By Rich Winter

605 Sports

VERMILLION — Two years ago, Hot Springs running back Braden Peterson decided he wanted to play football.

Living in the small town of Edgemont in southwest South Dakota Peterson was thrown a curveball when the Moguls were unable to field enough players to have a team.

“After that year I discussed it with my family,” Peterson said. “Hot Springs is 30 minutes away and my cousin lives there (Matt Close, Bison senior). After a lot of convincing I started playing football here my junior year.”

Peterson was raw as a football player and spent a good share of his junior year trying to find his spot in the Bison rotation. The first time Hot Springs coach Ben Kramer saw Peterson play he was blown away by how quick he was.

“The day I met him I saw that he had unbelievable speed,” Kramer said. “We’ve never had anything like that at Hot Springs so we knew he could be a weapon.” 

In the fall of 2022 when the Bison reached the 11B semifinals, where they lost to Elk Point-Jefferson, Peterson was still finding his spot. In the summer of 2023 the Hot Springs staff moved him to running back and Kramer said Peterson worked on the position all summer. 

“He really started to show some things at a team camp in the middle of June,” Kramer said. “He’s continued to improve all year, even from game to game, but his blocking has improved dramatically.”

On Friday, the first year running back was named outstanding back as the Bison won the Class 11B title with a 13-7 win over Elk Point-Jefferson. Peterson had 71 yards rushing and 79 yards receiving including the touchdown that broke a 7-7 tie in the second quarter.

Fans at the DakotaDome saw the speed first hand as Peterson pulled away from every Huskies defender in his vicinity. 

“Once I knew it was in my hands I looked up at the scoreboard and I could see the distance between me and the defenders,” he said. “I knew it was points on the board so I felt very free and it was relaxing.” 

In a dogfight most of the game the Hot Springs defense withstood multiple EPJ red-zone trips in the fourth quarter. Peterson’s interception sealed the Bison’s victory but he called the defensive stands a team effort. 

“We play as a unit and if everyone does their job right, the job gets done,” he said. “We are all so close we are like brothers and we just play super well together and that’s what we did today”

The Hot Springs faithful will be talking about this one for decades. This is their first state football championship in the playoff era. 

Peterson said it could not have been done without the fans. 

“The community is a big part of it,” he said. “Even in the semifinals we had like 1,500 people there. Them being loud is just fuel for us and I’m glad they showed up today because I don’t think we could have done it without them.”