The Dell Rapids Quarriers had their football season come to an end on Saturday, November 9th, in Madison. The Madison Bulldogs defeated the Dell Rapid Quarriers 48-6 in the semifinals of the 11A playoffs.
The Bulldogs scored first with 8:01 in the first quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run by Rush Milne on fourth down to take a 7-0 lead. Madison scored at the end of the first quarter with :23 on another fourth down play. This time Milne scored from two yards out to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both defenses held each other in check in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs maintained a 14-0 lead at halftime.
After Dell Rapids held Madison in the opening drive of the third quarter, the Bulldog defense came up with a big play. Tanner Solberg was intercepted by Jacob Giles, and Giles returned it 25 yards for a touchdown with 8:26 in the third quarter for 21-0 lead. Dell Rapids answered on their next drive on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Solberg to Riley Schmidt with 5:32 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-7. However, the Bulldogs scored two times in a matter of nine seconds. Milne scored his third touchdown with 1:15 to go in the quarter on a 3-yard run. Madison then executed an onside kick and recovered the live ball. On the very next play, Giles ran in for a touchdown from 32 yards with 1:06 to go to give the Bulldogs a 34-7 lead. Madison added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Giles Preston Nordling on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 8:15 to go in the game, and Mitch Hansen scored on a 6-yard touchdown run for the final score of the game with 4:09 left.
Madison racked up 490 yards of total offense, 303 rushing yards and 187 passing yards. Meanwhile, Dell Rapids was only able to gain 66 yards of total offense, 37 rushing yards and 29 passing yards. Schmidt carried the ball 15 times for 27 yards, Jacob Huewe had four carries for 10 yards, and Brett Nichols had six carries for nine yards. Solberg finished 2-8 for 36 yards, one interception and one touchdown. Schmidt was 0-3 passing with an interception, and Jace Nelson 1-2 passing for -7 yards and an interception. Schmidt had all three receptions for a total of 29 yards. Milne had 29 carries for 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Bulldogs. Giles had 12 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown. Giles also was 12-23 passing for 176 yards and a touchdown. Leading receiver for Madison was Mason Hemmer with four catches for 69 yards.
The Quarriers finish the year with an 8-3 record.
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