By Matt Gade

605 Sports

HURON — On Saturday, while Tate Grabow was on a mission to grab his second-straight Class A cross-country title, a part of Grabow and the Hill City Rangers’ support team included Tate’s twin brother, Tanner.

Tanner, a quiet, more reserved personality than Tate, was cheering on his brother and the Rangers, excited to see how well the boys' cross country boys would finish as a team. 

In the end, led by Tate’s first-place finish, the Rangers finished as the team runner-up behind Sioux Falls Christian.

While wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, Tanner, with the look of a traditional blue-collar worker, knows how much work his brother Tate has put in to earn his second straight Class A title on Saturday.

Tate won the race with a time of 15:42.86, more than 30 seconds ahead of Peyton Tetzlaff, of West Central, who finished second.

While Tate has put in the work on the course, hard work is no stranger for Tanner either, as the 6’1 230-pound senior anchors the Rangers (8-1) offensive and defensive lines, playing center and defensive tackle.

As the Rangers get set to host Hamlin on Thursday in the Class 9AA quarterfinals, Tanner said he’s grateful to see all the hard work the Rangers have put in paying off this season. 

“It's awesome to me, honestly, because we work so hard to get where we are nowadays,” Tanner said. “Just all the hard work that me and the seniors have put in, it's pretty neat.”

Tate said he enjoys the fact that not only has he found success on the course, but also his teammates and other kids in Hill City are finding success in their respective sports.

“I think it just shows how good Hill City actually is,” Tate said. “I think some people forget about us just because we're a 900-person town, but I think Hill City is full of just athletes, and I think it's definitely not a town to be overlooked.”

As twin brothers, playing different sports often going on at the same time, the brothers said they do their best to attend each other’s games to support each other, and their family does a really good job of making it to all of their competitions.

“It's really cool that me and my brother (Tate) are getting these opportunities,” Tanner said. “And just my parents are really helping us in this journey with it.”

Tanner said he and Tate used to both play football together, but in middle school, Tate went out for cross country and Tanner stuck it out with football.

Hill City's Tanner Grabow (72) blocks a Kadoka defender during a game on Oct. 10. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

On the offensive line, Tanner, who moved to center after the first game of the year, is part of a group blocking for a Hill City Ranger offense that is averaging 153 yards through the air and 259 yards on the ground.

“You know, at the start of that first game, I was the guard, and then the other kid was the center, Carson Kolb, and then we made that switch,” Tanner said. “That was a really good decision by coach (Eckert), because, you know, I'm not the quickest of all human beings. So getting Karson into that guard spot has been really good.”

On defense, Tanner is usually taking a lot of double teams from the opposing team’s offense, but has garnered 14 total tackles, nine solo and a tackle for loss.

Tanner said offense is his favorite of the two sides of the ball.

The Rangers, whose only loss on the season was a 44-43 loss at Philip, have already matched their best performance in the postseason in school history, advancing to the quarterfinals.

As the four seed, the Rangers host the five-seeded and defending state champion Hamlin Chargers on Thursday for a 6 p.m. contest at Ranger Field.

Tanner said the team’s loss at Philip was a wake-up call. After trailing by as much as 32-14, the one-point loss proved that the Rangers never quit.

Tanner said he knows the Chargers are going to be a tough battle on Thursday, but he is excited to play at home in front of the home crowd.

“I'm excited to see where we can go,” Tanner said of the postseason. “Hamlin, who we're playing up next, they're a really strong team. But I think we can handle them, though.”

Tanner said he doesn’t plan on playing sports in college, rather, he intends to attend Mitchell Technical College and study to become an electrical lineman and hopefully own his ranch somewhere down the road.

Tanner Grabow recognized during senior night during the Rangers' game against Kadoka earlier this month. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)