PRIDE ADVANCE TO QUARTERFINALS WITH 22-20 WIN
The Canistota/Freeman football team is moving on to the quarterfinal round of the Class 9AA South Dakota High School Playoffs next Thursday, Oct. 28 — barely.
The 11-seed Pride survived No. 6 Florence/Henry in the first round of the postseason in Florence Thursday night, Oct. 21, hanging on to a 22-20 win in a game that was about as close as they come.
After stopping Canistota/Freeman on a drive that would have sealed the win in the fourth quarter, the Falcons took possession with about 4 minutes to play deep in their own territory but couldn’t advance the ball onto the other side of the 80-yard field.
They were ultimately stopped on four downs with less than 30 seconds to play and, with Florence/Henry out of timeouts, Pride quarterback Tage Ortman took a knee and that was the game.
The Pride improve to 5-4 and will face No. 3 Ipswich in Ipswich next Thursday at 7 p.m. Florence/Henry finishes the season 7-2.
The stat sheet shows just how close Thursday night’s game was. Canistota/Freeman tallied 248 yards to the Falcons’ 246.
The Pride ran 57 plays to Florence/Henry’s 55.
And Canistota/Freeman possessed the ball 24 minutes to the Falcons’ 23:15.
The three-time defending 9A champions struck first late in the first period on an 8-yard touchdown run by Isiah Robertson and a two-point conversion pass from Ortman to Cayden Scott to go up 8-0. Robertson scored again on a 3-yard run and successful two-point conversion to give the Pride a 16-7 led in the third quarter but Florence/Henry stayed within striking distance after scoring on a 36-yard touchdown run to close the game to 16-14. Canistota/Freeman responded with another touchdown, this time on 28-yard pass from Ortman to Noah Kleinsasser, although a key two-point conversion attempt that would have made it a two-score game with just 3 minutes to play failed.
As it turned out, that didn’t matter. While Florence/Henry put the final points of the game on the board with a touchdown midway through the final quarter, the Pride stopped the Falcons on what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion, ultimately resulting in a 22-20 final.
Robertson was a key player in the win, carrying the ball 30 times for 180 yards and those two touchdowns, and Kleinsasser caught three passes for 40 yards and a touchdown that put the Pride up 22-14.
Riley Heiberger had a big game defensively for the Pride, recording 8 solo tackles — two for losses — and a sack. Jacob Swensen, Robertson and Kleinsasser each had four solo tackles.
