ELKS TOO TOUGH FOR PHOENIX IN QUARTERFINALS

Elkton-Lake Benton, Class 9AA fourth-ranked team and the second seed in the playoffs, was too much for Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy on Thursday night, rolling to a 52-14 home victory in the quarterfinal round of the postseason. The Elks improve to 10-0 and will face Parkston in the semifinals; the Trojans upset No. 1-ranked Howard 34-7 Thursday night.

The Phoenix, seeded seventh in the playoffs, finish their first season as a cooperative 7-3.

The Elks went up quickly in Thursday night’s game and built a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and held a 44-8 advantage at the half. Another touchdown in the third period made it 52-8 and a Phoenix touchdown in the final frame capped the scoring for the night.

F/M/FA’s touchdowns came on a 5-yard pass from Riley Tschetter to Matt Hagen and a 3-yard run from Ethan Balvin. The Phoenix finished with 222 total yards to the Elks’ 460.

Tschetter threw for 129 yards on 13-of-33 passing and carried the ball six times for 40 yards, and Evan Scharberg caught four passes for 60 yards.

In addition to his touchdown, Balvin had four solo tackles and three assists to lead the Phoenix defense. Tate Sorensen, Sawyer Wipf and Taylor Goodwin were all in on four tackles, and Sorensen, Wipf and Jackson Donlan all had a tackle for lost yards.

In addition to the Elkton-Lake Benton/Parkston game, top-seed Wall and No. 4 Hamlin are playing in a semifinal matchup next Friday, Nov. 4.