Titans rally past Watertown to improve to 3-0 on the season

The Tea Area High School football team remained unbeaten Friday night, overcoming a second-quarter surge by Watertown to defeat the Arrows 28-21 on Sept. 11 at the Allen Mitchell Complex in Watertown to improve to 3-0 on the season.

The Titans jumped in front in the first quarter as Devyn Rhodes found Mitch Grant for the 81 yard touchdown pass. Landon DeRuyter’s point after gave the Titans the 7-0 lead before the Arrows answered with two second-quarter touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Tea Area regained control in the third quarter, scoring twice to take a 21-14 advantage heading into the final period. The Titans’ Grant found Grifin Wiebenga for the 77 yard score and then Grant took the quarterback keeper 14 yards to the house to give Tea Area the lead. 

Watertown tied the game at 21-21 with 8:56 remaining, but the Titans answered with the decisive touchdown by Grant who ran it in from 22 yards out with 5:17 left. Two key sacks by the Titans’ Thiik Lual and Hayden Bialas in the final 1:30 allowed Tea Area to hang on for the 28-21 win. 

Offensively, Tea Area finished with 426 yards of offense, gaining 274 in the air and 152 on the ground. Watertown finished with 207 yards of offense (182 passing, 25 rushing). 

In the air, Grant completed three of his five passes for 141 yards while also rushing 12 times for 118 yards. 

Rhodes also competed three of his six pass attempts for 133 yards on the night. He rushed for three on six carries. 

Wiebenga led the Titans with 102 receiving yards on two catches, including the 77-yard touchdown. Grant added 87 receiving yards on two receptions, while Lane Sieber had 46 yards on one catch. Hayden Bialas also had a catch for 39 yards. 

The Titans also received a strong defensive effort. Hayden Bialas led Tea Area with seven total tackles, including 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble. Grant also had seven tackles on the night. Thiik had one sack and three tackles; Brayden Gniffke had one forced fumble and three tackles in the game and Gavin Stahnke helped take down the Watertown quarterback in the game and had four tackles. Trey Krell, Sam Stansbury, Miles Helen, and Darryn Rhodes had four tackles each. 

The Titans will host Sturgis Brown on Friday, Sept. 18 for the 2026 Homecoming match-up. Sturgis brings a 1-2 record into the game, recording a win over Rapid City Central (32-7) and suffering losses to Pierre (42-6) and Yankton (41-9). Kick-off is set for 6 p.m.