The West Central Trojans had a couple of early leads against the Tea Area Titans on Thursday, October 21st, but the Titans were able to pull away in the third quarter for a 27-13 victory in the final regular season game.

West Central scored first when Gavin Koch threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Owen Heath with 8:48 in the opening quarter.  The extra point was no good, but the Trojans led 6-0.  Tea took the lead about three minutes later after a three-yard touchdown pass and extra point.  The Titans added to that lead as time expired in the first quarter on a 35-yards field goal, and Tea led 10-6 after the first quarter.

The Trojans regained the lead midway through the second quarter.  Koch had a 44-yard touchdown pass to Gage Nelson.  Tommy Berg made the extra point, and West Central led 13-10 with 6:12 to go in the half.  The Titans scored almost three minutes later again on an 18-yard pass.  Tea lead 17-13 at halftime.

Tea Area then pulled away with 10 points in the third quarter.  Chase Van Tol had a 51-yard field goal with 6:31 to  play in the third quarter.  Cael Lundin added a 56-yard touchdown pass to Klayton Slatter with 4:13 to play in the quarter.  The extra point made it 27-13, and that was the final score of the game.

The Trojans finished with 198 yards of offense, 215 passing yards but -17 rushing yards.  Justin Zirpel had 14 carries for 17 yards.  Koch was 14-23 passing for 215 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.  Braden Dierickx had eight catches for 124 yards.  Jacob Krempges had three catches for 10 yards, Heath had two catches for 37 yards and a touchdown, and Nelson had a 44-yard touchdown catch.  Chet Carda had 13 tackles and a sack in the game.  Dalton Mulder and Logan Maras both had 10 tackles.  Dierickx finished with six tackles.

West Central finishes the regular season with a 4-5 record and will be the #5 seed in the 11A playoffs.  The Trojans will travel to Dell Rapids to take on the #4 seeded Quarriers on Thursday, October 28th.

The Madison Bulldogs remained undefeated after a 27-7 win over the West Central Trojans in Hartford on Thursday, October 14th.

Madison got on the board in the first quarter with 3:46 to go.  They added two more scores in the second quarter.  Trey Smith had a three-yard run with 11:31 to go in the quarter.  Nate Ricke added a four-yard touchdown run with 2:23 on the clock.  The Bulldogs led 21-0 at halftime.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs scored first in the fourth quarter.  Ricke threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mickale Dohrer with 7:31 in the game.  The Trojans got their touchdown with 5:38 to play in the game.  Gavin Koch threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Owen Heath.  Tommy Berg made the extra point.

The Trojans were held to just nine first downs in the game.  West Central had 168 yards of total offense, 129 passing yards and 39 rushing yards.  Madison had a total of 281 yards of offense.

Koch finished 12-27 passing for 129 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.  Braden Dierickx had six catches for 50 yards.  Heath had three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.  Justin Zirpel carried the ball 13 times for 47 yards.  Dierickx had four rushes for 22 yards.  Logan Maras had 14 tackles to lead the defense.  Tommy Berg finished with eight tackles, and Dalton Mulder had six tackles.

The Trojans (4-4) will travel to Tea on Thursday, October 21st.

In a battle of top five teams in Class 11A, the #4 Vermillion Tanagers held on for a 28-26 win over the #3 West Central Trojans on Friday, October 8th in Vermillion.

The Tanagers got on the board first on a five-yard run by Jeremy Crowe with 5:56 to play in the opening quarter.  The extra point was good for a 7-0 lead.  Vermillion struck again with 10:38 to play in the second quarter.  Jack Kratz scored on a one-yard touchdown.  The extra point was no good, and Vermillion led 13-0. 

West Central got on the board after 40-yard wide receiver screen pass from Gavin Koch to Braden Dierickx with 8:42 to go in the first half.  Tommy Berg made the extra point to make the score 13-7.  The Trojans tied the game with :38 to play in the first half on a one-yard touchdown run by Logan Maras.  Berg made the extra point again to give West Central a 14-13.  The fireworks were not over in the first half just yet.  Vermillion regained the lead after a two-yard pass from Kratz to Mehki Sheffield in the final seconds of the second quarter.  They made a two-point conversion to take a 21-14 lead at halftime.

The Trojans scored first in the third quarter.  Koch connected with Dierickx for a 54-yard touchdown with 9:15 to go in the third quarter.  The extra point was no good, and Vermillion kept a 21-20 lead.  Kratz scored again for the Tanagers on a nine-yard run with 3:59 in the third quarter.  The extra point was good, and Vermillion led 28-20.  The score remained 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Koch and Dierickx connected again for a touchdown with just under nine minutes to go in the game.  This time the pass was from four yards.  The Trojans went for the two-point conversion, but did not make it.  Vermillion hung on to the lead, 28-26.  West Central’s final drive of the game ended on a turnover on downs with 1:12 to go in the game on the Vermillion 41 yard line. 

Koch finished 21-37 passing for 215 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.  Dierickx had 12 catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns.  Jacob Krempges had four catches for 29 yards, and Owen Heath had three catches for 17 yards.  Koch also had seven carries for 32 yards.  Justin Zirpel added 11 carries for 30 yards.  Maras had two rushes for three yards and a touchdown. 

Maras led the defense for West Central with 17 tackles.  Dylan Stromer had 11 tackles.  Thomas Berg finished with five tackles, and Dierickx, Zach Madsen, and Chet Carda all had four tackles each.