By Rich Winter

605 Sports

VERMILLION — When the off-season lifting and conditioning began in June the Howard football team didn’t have to look far for motivation. 

Still fresh in the minds of the players, and particularly the seniors, was the 12-7 loss to Parkston in the Class 9AA title game in 2024. 

“That loss last year drove us all summer,” Austin Severson, Howard senior said. “I felt like our focus and attention to detail was just a little higher during the summer and then throughout the season because we all remembered how it felt to walk off the field the way we did last year.”

After Friday’s 38-30 win over Wolsey-Wessington, Severson and his teammates wrote another chapter in Howard football history.

Howard football coach Pat Ruml who was named the Class 9A football coach of the year said the loss to Parkston a year ago fanned the championship desire this year. 

"I think it’s kind of fueled them all year,” Ruml said. “Losing last year to a really good Parkston team, we had a chance to win that game, we know it, it’s one of those things you don't usually get another chance, we were lucky enough to have another chance and I told them to take advantage of it and they did."

For senior Luke Koepsell, the motivation to put in the extra work this summer felt like giving back to the 2024 graduating class of Howard that didn’t hoist a championship trophy.

"It feels really good, we worked so hard for this and we came up just short last year,” Koepsell said. “The seniors who were on last year’s team didn't have the chance to come back, we wanted to do it for them and it feels good."

Ten years ago Howard senior Tate Miller remembers sitting in the DakotaDome stands with his classmates watching Howard win a 2014 state championship with a 32-20 win over Wolsey-Wessington. On Friday, Miller finished with 15 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns fulfilling a childhood dream

“I’ve been dreaming about this ever since I was a little kid sitting in the stands,” Miller said. “We beat Wolsey-Wessington ten years ago and that gave me confidence to come in here and get the win.” 

On Friday the ground-and-pound Tigers muscled their way to 275 yards of rushing. Senior quarterback Carson Hinker completed 6-of-6 passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Howard’s defense gave up 138 yards but 92 of them came on a championship-game tying 92-yard touchdown run from Wolsey-Wessington junior Caleb Richmond. Richmond finished with 211 yards passing, although a good chunk of that yardage came after the Tigers opened up a multiple-score lead in the second half. 

“Our guys have been working for this for a long time,” Ruml said.  “As I said from last year when the state championship got over, I told them you usually don't get another chance, but now that we had one here today they took advantage of it."

On Friday the Howard seniors delivered the school’s fifth state football title and Severson said the good feelings and memories won’t go away soon.

“It’s just an incredible feeling,” Severson said. “This is something I’m definitely going to tell my kids about and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”