Titans roll past Douglas

On Friday, Sept. 19 the Tea Area High School football team traveled West to take on Douglas. 

The Titans put their foot on the gas early and never let up, scoring ten points in the first quarter, 21 in the second, and seven in the third to capture the 38-6 victory.

In the opening quarter, the Titans’ defense recorded a safety to go up 2-0 and before quarter’s end Tea Area’s Mitch Grant found Grifin Wiebenga for the 12 yard touchdown pass. A Cameron Hillestad to Wiebenga two point conversion, put the Titans up 10-0.

In the second quarter, the Titans scored on a quarterback keeper from Grant who ran it in four yards for the score; then Grant found Wiebenga again, this time for an 11 yard touchdown pass and before halftime the Titans’ Braeden Gniffke forced a fumble which was recovered by Kade Korleski who took it three yards for the score. Hillestad successfully kicked through all three extra points giving Tea Area a commanding 31-0 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Daschle Lowery found Wiebenga for his third score of the night on a 19 yard pass. Hillestad’s point after put Tea Area up 38-0. 

Before game’s end, Douglas found the scoreboard scoring on a four yard run, leaving the final score 38-6 in favor of the Titans. 

Tea finished the night with 217 yards of offense, bettering Douglas’ 37 yards. Tea Area had 125 on the ground and 92 in the air. 

Grant completed five of seven passes for 42 yards, including two touchdown passes. Lowery went three for three in the game for 50 yards and a score. 

Wiebenga grabbed six passes for 79 yards and three scores. Korleski had two grabs for 13 yards. 

On the ground, Grant led the way with 59 yards on seven carries. Zac Webb had 34 yards on five carries, Brady Tapia 25 yards on five carries, Gniffke 17 yards on five carries and Lane Sieber 12 yards on four carries. 

Defensively, Gniffke had a forced fumble, a sack, and an interception in the game to lead the Titans. He also had eight tackles. Korleski had a fumble recovery and two tackles in the game. Hayden Bialas had one forced fumble and four tackles. 

Chase DeBoer and Cody Petersen combined for a sack. DeBoer also had seven tackles and Petersen three. Leyton Moran, Kingston Nyberg, and Tapia each had four tackles. Emmett DeGeest finished the night with three. Adam Berglund and Lucas Randall were credited with breaking up two passes in the game. 

The Titans will travel to Mitchell this Friday, Sept. 26 in a 7 p.m. match against the 1-3 Kernels. 

Mitchell has a 57-0 win over Douglas to open the season and has had three losses in a row: Brookings (40-0); Spearfish (42-16) and Watertown (46-18).