The Tea Area Titans remained undefeated and moved on to the 11A championship game with a 32-21 win over the Dell Rapids Quarriers on Friday, November 4th, at Tea Area High School.

The Titans moved the ball successfully in their first two drives of the game.  After receiving the kickoff to start the game, Tea Area had an 11 play, 89 yard drive that lasted 5:24 ending in a 29-yard touchdown run by Adam Heien.  Their second drive was a 10 play, 70 yard drive that lasted 4:10.  With 11:09 remaining in the second quarter, Kendron Rensch scored on a two-yard touchdown run to put the Titans ahead 13-0.

Dell Rapids got their offense rolling in their third drive.  The Quarriers ran just four plays and covered 69 yards ending in a 39-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Hansen to Anthony Miller with 9:51 remaining in the half.  The Dell Rapids defense then forced two consecutive punts, and the offense was driving late in the second quarter.  With just over a minute to play, the Quarriers had the ball with a 2nd and goal from the two yard line.  What happened next changed the flow of the entire game.

Hansen took the snap, ran a fake hand-off, spun to his left and was met by Logan Hoon who stripped the ball from Hansen and ran it 94 yards the other way for a Titan touchdown to put Tea Area ahead 19-7 at halftime.  The play seemed to give all the momentum to the Titans for the second half.

The Titan defense forced a three and out of the Quarriers to open the third quarter.  Tea Area then scored on their next drive.  Payton Conrad scored on a four-yard run with 6:16 to go to push the lead to 26-7.  The Titans scored again with 4:27 remaining in the third quarter when Heien reeled off a 57-yard touchdown run to make the score 32-7.

Dell Rapids was able to get two scores in the fourth quarter.  Tanner Heim scored both times for the Quarriers.  The first touchdown came with 6:35 remaining in the game on a one-yard run.  The second score happened with 2:47 to go and was a three-yard run.

The Quarriers finished with 375 yards of offense, 188 rushing yards and 187 passing yards.  Tea Area finished with 360 yards of total offense, 281 rushing yards and 79 passing yards.  Adam Nagelhout had two carries for 78 yards.  Seth Andersen had five carries for 55 yards.  Hansen had 12 carries for 35 yards, and Heim had seven carries for 18 yards and two touchdowns.  Hansen finished the game 7-11 passing for 125 yards and a touchdown.  Carson Rentz was 5-10 passing for 62 yards and an interception.  Heim had four catches for 41 yards.  Mason Peter had two catches for 58 yards.  Miller had one catch for 39 yards for a touchdown.  Defensively Heim led the team with 10 tackles.  Nate McKee added nine tackles, and Hansen and Andersen both had eight tackles.

Dell Rapids finishes their season with an 8-3 record.  The Quarriers lost to Madison once, and Tea Area twice….the two teams that will compete for the 11A championship on Saturday, November 12th, at 1:00 p.m. in Vermillion.

The Dell Rapids Quarriers defeated the #1 team and only undefeated team at the time in class 11A on Friday, October 5th.  Dell Rapids beat the Dakota Valley Panthers 37-19 at Dakota Valley.  The game was back and forth in the first half, but Dell Rapids put the game away with a strong second half.

The Quarriers came out swinging as they scored on their first offensive play of the game on a touchdown pass from Matt Kolbeck to Cole Langer to take a 6-0 lead.  After each team traded turnovers on interceptions, the Panthers took the lead 7-6 on a touchdown run by quarterback Aaron Likness and a successful extra point.  Dell Rapids answered with a touchdown pass from Kolbeck to Riley

Schmidt for a 12-7 lead.  Likness and the Panthers would take the lead back at 13-12 after a quarterback sneak into the endzone and a failed extra point attempt.  After a fourth down conversion, Schmidt found the endzone again, this time on the ground to give the lead back to the Quarriers 18-13.  Dakota Valley again answered with a touchdown pass from Likness to Brody VanGinkle to give the Panthers a 19-18 lead late in the second quarter.  The Quarriers would score one more time before halftime on a fourth and goal touchdown pass from Kolbeck to Schmidt for Schmidt’s third touchdown of the half.  Dell Rapids lead 24-19 at halftime.  The Quarriers would add two more scores in the second half on touchdown runs by Schmidt and Ryan Nichols.  The Dell Rapids defense held the Panther offense scoreless in the second half for the 37-19 win.

Dell Rapids put up 392 yards of offense while holding the Panthers to 237 total yards of offense.  The Quarriers picked up 18 first downs and had the ball for nearly 30:00 of the game.  Schmidt carried the ball eight times for 80 yards and two touchdowns.  Langer had four carries for 54 yards and had one reception for a 41-yard touchdown before leaving the game late in the first quarter with an injury.  R. Nichols had 10 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown.  Kolbeck was 7-13 passing for 155 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.  Schmidt had four catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns.  Bryce Koch had two catches for 45 yards.  The defense was led by Colin LeBrun with 6.5 tackles.  Nathan Koens, Koch, and Cody Nielsen each had 4.0 tackles. Brett Nichols and Schmidt each had an interception.

The win moves the Quarriers to 5-1 on the year.  Dell Rapids will host Sisseton on Friday, October 12th.

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