By Rich Winter

605 Sports

PIERRE — Since soccer became a South Dakota High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport in 2015, the Pierre High School boys have never hosted or won a playoff game. 

Following a rigorous summer of conditioning the Governors find themselves with a 8-3-2 record heading into their regular-season finale against Brookings on Wednesday, Oct. 3. For the seniors who suffered through some difficult moments including last year’s 3-8-1 record the program turnaround is ultimate satisfaction. 

“This feels pretty great,” Steven Blanchette, a senior midfielder, said. “This is my fifth year on varsity and we’ve never had a season like this. For us seniors it feels really good to have our hard work pay off, especially the hard work we put in last summer.” 

The recipe for success began with Sean Blanchette taking over as head coach. Blanchette had previously coached the Pierre boys and right away he gathered forces to figure out a game plan that would help Pierre turn the corner. 

“We wanted to find a formation of play and develop a mindset to set them up for success,” Sean Blanchette said. “We looked at who we had and then to work on conditioning to set up the success for the team. We had great buy-in from the boys and most of them have been playing together since they were just little kids.”

Blanchette added his son, Ivan, a 2017 Pierre graduate to the summer conditioning and as an assistant coach. He also brought in former Pierre and Aberdeen Central player Marcus Hluchy who was the 2016 and ‘17 South Dakota Gatorade player of the year before playing at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. 

Another addition to the coaching staff, in a voluntary capacity, is that of former Pierre player, and two-time All-State goalkeeper Cam Ahartz. Blanchette said Ahartz has been instrumental in working with Pierre's starting goalkeeper Jacob Lieferman with game specific drills and helping the seniors mindset. 

Blanchette has always felt like Pierre had quality soccer players but for whatever reason the Governors could never pull it together for a winning season. The highest Pierre has ever finished in the Class AA standings was 10th and they are currently sitting as the seventh seed and will host their first-ever playoff game this month. 

In addition to his son Steven, Blanchette called defenders Weston Northrup and Cayden Morris the heart and soul of the 2024 squad. 

Senior defender Cayden Morris is part of a Pierre team that will host their first playoff game in school history since soccer became a sanctioned sport in 2015 - Photo courtesy of Timothy Ahartz

“Those three seniors anchor what we are doing,” Blanchette said. “They ensure the ball stays out of the net and then work together to distribute the ball forward. 

The backline has been playing together for a decade and have an ultimate trust for one another.

“We trust each other in every situation,” Weston Northrup said. “All of the training and sprints and ladders we did this summer have paid off. We want to finish on top and play our best soccer down the stretch.” 

Senior defender Weston Northrup has been part of a Pierre defense that has given up just 10 goals this season - Photo courtesy of Timothy Ahartz

Blanchette gave credit to his midfielders that control tempo. He feels like Pierre is capable of playing explosive offensive soccer and also settling in and playing for possession to run clock if the need arises. 

A year ago Pierre scored 20 goals and gave up 33. So far this season the team has scored 24 goals and given up 10 including seven shutouts. 

Junior Alex Oedekoven is the team's leading scorer with eight goals and two assists. Caiden Ahartz has five goals and six assists. Lucas Hight, Jacoby LaRoche and Caleb Morris each have three goals on the season. 

Blanchette said the team set some pretty aggressive goals to start the season and told the kids if this is where you want to get then this is the work you have to put in.

“One of our preseason goals was we wanted to host a playoff game and now we want to win a game in the playoffs,” he said. “Our guys are learning what it takes to win and every time we win the intensity picks up. For the upperclassmen I just wanted them to have that one season where we’ve really achieved something that no one in our program has done before.”