Both the Pierre Governors and Yankton Bucks put up plenty of offense in the 11AA State semifinal on Friday as it was the Govs winning 59-31 to advance to its sixth straight state title game.
The Governors scored on every possession in the first half as Lincoln Kienholz would run in three scores while also throwing for two as he would break the South Dakota all-time passing record on his 95 yard pass to Cade Kaiser which put the Govs up by 21 at the half. He finished with over 330 yards passing and nearly 250 yards rushing.
What was nearly a one score game at the end of the first half as Yankton had goal to go, but Jayden Wiebe would intercept a pass with under a minute remaining before Kienholz and Kaiser were able to connect for the big score. Yankton was able to make it a 14 point game a couple of times in the second half, but the Governors didn’t break.
Yankton’s up tempo offense ran 79 plays as they had over 400 yards of total offense with Rugby Ryken throwing for 254 and had three touchdown passes and a TD run. Wiebe did have a second interception for Pierre to help seal the win.
Pierre will face Tea Area in the 11AA state championship for the second year in a row. The Govs won the first meeting 35-30 with an interception in the end zone on the final play of the game back in Week Eight. Coverage will start next Saturday at 12:30 with kickoff at 1:00 on KCCR and online at kccrradio.com with Jon Winkler and Blake Dean on the call.
