Parkston uses fourth-quarter touchdown to take down Platte-Geddes

Zech Lambert, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·3 min read

Aug. 27—PARKSTON, S.D. — Jesse Newton intercepted a pass and scored a touchdown for Parkston in a 22-14 win over the defending back-to-back Class 9AA South Dakota state champion Platte-Geddes Black Panthers on Friday.

The Trojans got off to a hot start, and on only the third play from scrimmage, Newton intercepted a Dawson Hoffman pass and set Parkston up on Platte-Geddes' 34-yard line.

From there, the Trojans put together a five-play drive and struck first on a Luke Bormann 4-yard touchdown run to go up 6-0.

After forcing a three-and-out, Parkston took over at the Black Panthers' 36-yard line and drove down to score again, this time on a pass to Newton for a 14-yard-touchdown catch to go up 14-0 after the 2-point conversion.

"He's kind of a glue piece right now," Parkston coach Matt Grave said of Newton following the win.

Platte-Geddes answered back on a deep ball to Joey Foxley, who reeled in a 54-yard touchdown from Hoffman to cut the lead to 14-6, which proved to be the halftime score.

Platte-Geddes put the only points of the third quarter up, when Oakley Kott finished off a nine-play, 59-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to end the third quarter. The Black Panthers converted on the 2-point try to tie the game with 12 minutes left.

"We just battle. Our kids know not to give up," said Platte-Geddes coach Bruce Hanson about coming back to tie the game. "Doesn't matter what the score is, we just battle."

Parkston used over six minutes of the fourth quarter with a 13-play, 73-yard drive. Brayden Jervik ended it with a 3-yard scamper for the score. After a successful 2-point conversion, Parkston went up 22-14. Jervik finished with 16 carries for 50 yards and the score.

"He's got a big heart," Grave said of Jervik. "You still gotta give it to your thoroughbred a little bit and let him go be a bully. He did a great job for us."

Platte-Geddes drove down to the Parkston 24-yard line on the ensuing drive, but stalled out after four incomplete passes, three of which were shots to the endzone.

"We trust our guys (to) go make a play," Hanson said of the decision to go for the endzone three times from the 24-yard line. "We wanted to try to save our timeouts for defense."

The Black Panthers got the ball back with five seconds left on the Trojan 39 and took a last-second shot, but Foxley came up short of the goal line and ended the game.

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With the win, Parkston moves to 2-0 as it looks forward to hosting Wolsey-Wessington at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, while Platte-Geddes starts at 0-1. The Black Panthers host Gregory at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2.

"It comes down to execution," Grave said of the win. "They put us on our heels and fortunately, we came up with the win."