By Ryan Deal, 605 Sports

ryan.deal@sportsticket.tv

Here we go again.

When No. 1 Winner and No. 2 Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan clash on Friday in Winner, it will continue a budding rivalry between the Class 11B powers. They’ve locked horns in the past two state championships, including last year’s heart-pounding 18-14 Winner victory. BEE won the 2019 contest with a late defensive stand, 21-14. 

So when the 2021 schedules were released, both coaches were excited about facing each other so early in the season. 

“You want to play good competition and the nice part about playing them early in the year is you will know where you need to make improvements,” Winner coach Trent Olson said. “You have too many games that aren’t evenly matched early on, some of your deficiencies can kind of get hidden and you don’t really know what you need to work on.”

BEE coach Jeff Van Leur echoed his counterpart’s sentiments, while it’s the second consecutive top-5 ranked opponent for the Seahawks to open the year. They edged Sioux Valley, 20-16, in the opener on Aug. 20. 

“Sioux Valley had a good football team and we know what Winner is all about,” Van Leur said. “They just do a great job year in and year out. Those kind of teams make you a better football team when you walk off the field and you find out what you need to work on.”

And if history is any guide, Friday’s contest will come down to the wire. In addition to their thrillers the past two seasons, they also faced off in the playoffs in 2016 and 2017. The Seahawks claimed the 2017 quarterfinal contest, 18-8, on their way to the DakotaDome in Vermillion. 

“I think the style of game will be very similar,” Olson said. “We’ve played them other times in the playoffs the last few years and the games have always been very competitive and both teams kind of play old-fashioned football and I would kind of expect it to be the same this time.”

The Warriors and Seahawks both rely heavily on their rushing attacks, while playing sound defense. Against Sioux Valley, the Seahawks carried the ball 30 times and used a late Kaden Klumb-to-Sam Hofer touchdown reception to push past the Cossacks. Koby Kayser had 104 rushing yards and one touchdown. 

In their opener against Tripp-Delmont/Armour/Andes Central/Dakota Christian, Winner rushed for 226 yards on 31 carries in the 57-6 victory. (The game was called in the third quarter due to the 50-point mercy rule)

In the opener, 12 different players carried the ball for Winner. Kaden Keiser rushed for a pair of touchdowns, while Kaleb Osborn had a team-high nine carries and scored one rushing touchdown.

“I think they are very similar to what we’ve seen in the past,” Van Leur said. “They just do a great job of execution right up front and their backs run hard and are hard to bring down and defensively they are like us. They hang their hat on defense and make things happen and they are great at doing that.”