Titans open season with thrilling 35-32 win over Huron
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Two top-five teams in Class 11AA took to the field on Friday, Aug. 28 when the Tea Area Titans hosted the Huron Tigers in their opening football game of the season.
Tea Area opened up with a 21-0 lead early as Hayden Bialas ran it in from 13 yards out and Mitch Grant found Beau Werdel for the 28-yard touchdown, all in the opening quarter. In the second quarter, Grant connected with Adam Berglund. The point-after kicks by Landon Deruyter put the Titans up 21-0.
Huron answered back with two scores in the second quarter; however, Tea Area’s Gavin Stahnke blocked one of the extra points, bringing the halftime score to 21-13.
In the third, Huron struck first, but the two-point conversion was no good, leaving them trailing 21-19.
Grant got the Titans on the board again in the third, as he took the quarterback keeper in for the score. Deruyter’s point-after gave the Titans a 28-19 advantage.
In the fourth, Huron launched a comeback, scoring with 4:30 left in the game to pull within two, 28-26.
The Titans’ Devyn Rhodes had a 63-yard run to set up a seven-yard score by Rhodes, giving them some breathing room as they led 35-26 heading into the final minutes.
Huron didn’t use much of the clock, scoring with under two minutes remaining to pull within three. However, the onside kick by Huron was recovered by Tea Area. The Titans were unable to get the ball moving and were forced to punt. Huron made one final attempt, but thanks to an interception by Miles Jelen, the Titans hung on for the 35-32 victory.
Tea Area finished with 390 yards of offense in the game, gaining 305 on the ground and 85 in the air.
Leading the rushing attack was Rhodes, who finished with 164 yards on 11 carries. Bialas had 78 yards rushing on seven carries, and Grant rushed for 48 yards on eight carries. Kade Korleski had 16 yards rushing in the game.
In the air, Grant completed six of 11 pass attempts for 59 yards. Rhodes completed three of six attempts for 26 yards. Berglund was the leading receiver, grabbing four passes for 34 yards. Rhodes had two grabs for seven yards, Werdel one for 28, Grant one for ten, and Korleski one for six.
Defensively, Bialas and Thiik Lual each recorded a sack in the game, and Sam Stansbury and Gavin Stahnke combined to sack the Huron quarterback. Miles had the team’s lone interception and had a fumble recovery in the game.
Leading the team in tackles was Grant, who had six solo tackles and four assisted. Stansbury had one solo tackle and ten assisted tackles. Noah Severson had four solo and four assisted tackles to finish with eight.
The Titans will travel to Aberdeen to take on Aberdeen Central this Friday, Sept. 4. Aberdeen Central lost to Yankton, 48-11, in their opening game of the season last Friday.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.