Top-ranked Sioux Falls Christian pulls away from No. 4 Madison, improves to 6-0
Sioux Falls Christian's Cooper Strande (2) carries the football during the Chargers' 27-7 win over Madison on Oct. 2, 2026, in Madison. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)
MADISON — Sioux Falls Christian remains unbeaten.
Class 11A No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian took control in the second half to beat No. 4 Madison, 27-7, Friday night at Brian Kern Family Stadium.
Leading 12-7 at the half, the Chargers produced back-to-back touchdown drives while continuing their lockdown defense to seal the win.
“Second half, (we) just made a few tweaks with our defense,” said SFC head coach Jared Smith. “Our kids just apply what the coaches expect and having those guys practicing the gameplan, our defense is just lights out. They were really good, they’re good in the trenches, but I think in the second half we wore them down a little bit.”
In the third quarter, junior wideout Jude Prins punched in a score from four yards out, while junior quarterback Cooper Strande connected with freshman Deair Smith on the 2-pt conversion following a penalty.
The Charger forced a crucial turnover on downs on the ensuing drive early in the fourth quarter, setting up a methodical eight-minute drive, capping off with a 12-yard leaping touchdown reception by Prins from Strande to push the lead to 20 with just over two minutes to play.
The Chargers relied heavily on the ground game throughout the win, rushing 28 times for 144 yards, but the offensive line came up big to put the game out of reach.
“Our O-line does a great job, they just work their tails off,” Strande said. “That was all them honestly. Without them, that’s a tight ballgame. Really blessed to have them upfront.”
SFC kicked off the all-Dak-XII matchup the same way it ended, with an electric play from Prins. Forcing a punt deep in Madison territory, Prins found a crease and scooted down the sideline for a 42-yard punt return touchdown.
“He does things like that, that sparks us,” Smith said. “Jude has that straight line speed to put the hammer down and he’s hard to catch.”
Madison would tie the game early in the second quarter on a Henry Veenhof one-yard touchdown run. SFC drove deep into Bulldog territory before a crucial fumble from Deair Smith gave Madison the ball back at its own one-yard line.
Sioux Falls Christian turned the negative into a positive by forced a safety one play later, adding a Jason Koenes 25-yard field before halftime.
“Having a fumble, lot of times guys offensively are down, the guys that are coming in on defense are like ‘Hey, we’ve got an opportunity here to do something,’ ” Jared Smith said. “I think our guys just respond well, that’s one of our core values. We just say win the moment, what’s important now.”
Following a Madison fumble, Strande threw an interception to Madison’s Kaysen Gust with just over a minute to go in the half. Gust returned it deep into Charger territory, but SFC’s defense came up with another crucial turnover on downs to keep points off the board.
“We’re always going to bounce back,” Strande said of the turnovers. “Coaches will get on us, but they’re doing it in a loving way. Coach Smith, he’s going to get on you, but you know that he loves you and we’ve got to go to the next play. The o-line does a great job with, I had a bad interception, the O-line picked me up. We’ve got each other's backs and that’s a big thing with being a family here at Sioux Falls Christian.”
And despite having just 49 rushing yards on 13 attempts at halftime, the Chargers tallied 15 carries for 95 yards in the second half to wear down the Bulldog defense.
“Whenever you go against Madison you know it’s going to be a dog fight on the line of scrimmage, but it was a really fun and I just want to give God all the glory,” said Strande. “He’s blessed me with such great coaches and players and given me all of my talents.”
Strande completed 12-of-19 pass attempts for 185 yards with a touchdown and an interception, adding nine carries for 59 yards as well.
Trey Meehan had 15 carries for 62 yards, Deair Smith caught seven passes for 120 yards while Prins added five receptions for 65 yards and a score, tallying four carries for 25 yards as well.
“Hard team win against a really good team coming in here,” Prins said. “It was super physical, they’ve got a huge line, but we came out tonight, we played really well.”
Veenhof completed 15 passes for 62 yards, rushing 22 times for 57 yards and a score. Tucker King had 14 carries for 45 yards in the loss.
Sioux Falls Christian (6-0) will play Vermillion on Oct. 9 in the DakotaDome. Madison heads to Class 11A No. 3 West Central on Oct. 9 as well.