PARKSTON — Luke Peters picked a good time for his first-ever pick-six.

The Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy senior returned an interception for a fourth-quarter touchdown, sealing a 20-6 win over Parkston on Friday in high school action. 

In the waning moments, Peters intercepted Parkston’s Brycen Bruening at midfield and sprinted for the touchdown, putting the Class 9AA No. 5 Phoenix ahead 20-6 with 49 seconds left. 

“You are kind of anticipating they are going to pass,” Peters said. “So I kind of was expecting it and I saw the crosser coming around and took him. I turned my head and I see the ball and I just got it and ran.”

Peters, who fumbled the football twice earlier in the game, also made sure to secure the football on the game-clinching play. 

“It was really special,” Peters added about the interception. “I fumbled that ball twice. So to make it up to them like that’s special.”

The defensive play capped off a defensive slugfest in the season opener for both teams. The Phoenix (1-0) and Class 9AA No. 3 Trojans (0-1) sputtered offensively at times, and Peters’ touchdown was the only score of the second half. 

“I think we got the nerves out that first quarter,” FMFA coach Dustin Tschetter said. “Obviously both of us struggled in the first quarter. We moved the football in the second quarter and then in the second half we just locked each other down. Just two really good teams going at it defensively and it came down to one play here and there and that was the difference in this ball game.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Parkston’s Mason Jervik punched in a three-yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 6-0 lead at the 6:51 mark of the second quarter. The play was set up by a long Jervik reception on the previous play. 

FMFA’s dual-threat quarterback Riley Tschetter capped off the Phoenix’s next drive with a six-yard touchdown, evening the score at 6-6 with 2:10 before halftime. 

On Parkston’s next possession, FMFA’s David Walter intercepted his first of two passes, leading to another Tschetter touchdown run and 13-6 lead. Walter then thwarted Parkston’s next drive with another interception, preserving FMFA’s seven-point lead at halftime. 

“Those are pretty nice,” Peters said about Walter’s interceptions. “It just set the tone for the game pretty much, giving us more chances and stopping them from having more chances than they can have.”

The Phoenix and Trojans then neutralized each other in the third quarter, trading possessions before Peters’ game-clinching pick-six. 

Coach Tschetter said winning the game with its defense is a huge boost for the Phoenix moving forward. 

“It’s huge for our confidence moving forward to be able to grind out a win against a d— good football team over there,” Tschetter said. “We wouldn’t have won this game the last three years.”

It was Parkston’s first non-state championship loss since Sept. 9, 2022, an 8-6 loss against Hanson. 

It was also a measure of revenge for the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy, which lost 28-22 in last season’s Class 9AA semifinals to the Trojans. 

“We’ve been waiting nine months to come back here,” coach Tschetter said. “We had the ball last time with a chance to win it. This time we finished the deal. So this was huge.”