Titans fall to O’Gorman in first loss of season

In a back and forth battle at McEneaney Field in Sioux Falls, the Tea Area High School football team suffered their first lost of the season, falling to Sioux Falls O’Gorman, 41-30.

O’Gorman struck first capitalizing on an intercepted pass which they returned 34 yards for the first score of the game. The point after was successful to put them up 7-0.

The Titans managed to get on the board in the second quarter as Carson Hall kicked through a 34 yard field goal, pulling the Titans within four.

Still in the second, Brenner Konrad completed a 56 yard touchdown pass from Jesse Wiebenga. The point after by Hall put the Titans up 10-7.

O’Gorman, however, answered back with two back to back rushing touchdowns within seconds of each other after another interception. The point afters gave the Knights the 21-10 lead.

Still in the second, the Titans answered back as Riley Svanda took the ball seven yards of the score. Hall’s point after pulled the Titans within 14.

With just under a minute left on the clock, a scoring frenzy occurred with O’Gorman scoring twice and the Titans once. Tea Area scored when Ethan Vis returned the kick-off 80 yards for the score. At the half, O’Gorman led 35-24.

In the third quarter, the Knights scored again on a long 78 yard touchdown pass. The point after was no good but O’Gorman had built a 17 point lead.

The Titans managed one more score in the fourth quarter as Konrad found Keegan DeYoung for the 40 yard score. Hall’s point after was no good.

As the final seconds clicked off the clock, the Titans suffered the 41-30 defeat, their first of the season.

Tea Area finished with 305 yards of offense, gaining 111 on the ground and 194 in the air. O’Gorman finished with 464 yards, gaining 209 rushing and 255 passing.

Leading the Titans air attack was Konrad who completed 11 of 17 pass attempts for 194 yards. He threw two interceptions in the game and threw for two touchdowns.

DeYoung caught one of those touchdowns and finished the night with three grabs for 77 yards. Wiebenga had the other touchdown on a 56 yard pass. Tyler Rhead finished the night with four grabs for 39 yards, Svanda had 14 yards on two catches and Tim Halbur one grab for eight yards.

On the ground, Svanda finished with 43 yards on nine carries. DeYoung had 35 yards on six carries. Konrad had 29 yards on eight carries and Wiebenga had seven yards on one carry.

Defensively, the Titans were led by Dawson Eimers who had nine total tackles in the game. Sam Werdel finished with eight, Vis and DeYoung each had five, Carter Turek had three, Halbur, Andrew Opland, Rhead, Svanda, Chase DeBoer and Garrett Wiebenga each had two, and Carter Christensen, Gavin Van Emmerik, Leyton Moran, Fennel Sworr, Brady Tapia, and J. Wiebenga each had one. Turek and DeBoer each recorded a sack in the game. Brock Ellingson grabbed two interceptions in the game.

The Titans will take on Douglas this Friday, Sept. 15 at home in their 2023 Homecoming match-up. Kick-off is set for 6 p.m. Tailgating begins at 4 p.m.

Douglas is 1-2 on the season having opened with a 34-16 win over Belle Fourche and falling to Rapid City Stevens (57-0) and Spearfish (47-20) in the next two match-ups.