By Rich Winter

Known more for their exploits on the basketball court the Lower Brule football team is making some serious noise in the All-Nations Football Conference. 

Thursday’s 46-0 win over Crow Creek propelled the Sioux to a 7-0 record with one game remaining in the regular season, Friday at Omaha Nation. 

“I thought we played well against Crow Creek,” Lower Brule coach Charles LaRoche said. “We had a couple of miscues that set us back but I think we are playing really good football.” 

The Sioux are averaging 50 points per game behind dual-threat quarterback Gavin Thigh who says health has been a big reason for the teams success. 

“We’ve been consistent with everyone being healthy and everyone focusing and doing their job on the field,” Thigh said. “Last year we had two of our best offensive line players get hurt and think that affected us in the playoffs against Tiospa Zina.” 

Through most of the summer Thigh wasn’t even penciled in as the starting quarterback. Sophomore Lane Gray was the starter through summer camp and senior Brian LaRoche Jr. also had multiple quarterback starts under his belt in previous seasons. 

“We had a quarterback battle in fall camp,” Charles LaRoche said. “We sat everyone down and kinda figured Gavin is more compact and a downhill runner while LaRoche Jr. is a matchup nightmare on the outside.” 

Coach LaRoche noted that Thigh has over 30 touchdown passes this season while LaRoche Jr. is leading the team in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Thigh and LaRoche Jr., seniors have been playing sports together for a long time and the pair have a special relationship on and off the field. 

“He’s like a brother to me so our trust in each other is like no other,” LaRoche Jr. said. 

The two seniors fuel the team and provide leadership the younger players are soaking up. 

“Gavin is the most competitive kid I’ve ever seen and he pushes every kid on the team and cracks the whip,” LaRoche said. “Brian Jr. is the calm, cool and collected guy, ready to close the game out, always looking and ready to make a big play.” 

While the Sioux are loaded with veteran skill players they also rely on youth in the backfield with freshman Nunpa Kirkie and Nate Middletent manning the running back positions. Senior Ellwyn Langdeau and junior Marley Carpenter give Lower Brule size and experience at the offensive end positions. 

That high-powered offense is racking up video-game like numbers but Coach LaRoche Jr. said a big reason why everything is clicking is the play of the offensive line. 

“Tayshawn Battese, Sid Walters and Ethan Johnson are big and experienced and give us movement up front,” LaRoche said.  

While the offense has been exceptional the defense has been downright stifling. Through seven games Lower Brule has given up just 14 points. 

“Our defensive tackles and our defensive line is tough,” LaRoche said. “We have so much speed and size that causes problems and teams don’t quite know what to run outside of us.”  

Elwyn Langdeau and Nunpa Kirkie are playing well at linebacker and the Sioux have a lot of experience in the secondary with guys like Lane Gray, Gavin and Ethan Thigh who have all been playing for three or four years.

In their first game of the season against Tiospa Zina, the Sioux struggled and led just 8-0 at halftime. The Sioux rallied for 32, second-half points and haven’t looked back since. 

“We had some missed opportunities and our timing was off,” LaRoche said. “In the third quarter we came unleashed and since then we feel like we’ve gotten that monkey off our backs.” 

Players and coaches alike aren’t looking ahead but everyone has their eyes on the prize, a potential game at the DakotaDome in Vermilion for the All-Nations Football Conference championship. 

“Winning the All-Nations would mean a lot to the community because we were runner-up the first year and to go back four years later and win it would be awesome,” Thigh said.