By Matt Gade 

605 Sports

WALL — At the midway point of the season, the Wall Eagles find themselves 4-0, scoring an average of over 58 points per game with a margin of victory of over 51 points.

That offensive explosiveness is due to a multitude of factors, but for head coach Lex Heathershaw, he said it largely stems from a commitment from his players, led by the senior class, who have been committed since they were in middle school.

“That comes from, like, when they were 6-7-8 graders, I was on their ass in the summertime. And now I don't have to, because I did it for three summers,” Heathershaw said. “And by the time they were freshman, sophomores, they see the results pay off, because they saw Cedar (Amiotte) and what those guys did, and they won a title. It's like, ‘Okay, here's why we're doing this.’”

The hard work dividends set by those seniors can be seen across the Eagles’ lineup. Senior running back Jace Mohr is averaging 184.5 yards per game on the ground on 36 carries with 13 touchdowns. Wide receiver Dawson Handcock has 220 yards receiving on six receptions with four touchdowns. On the opposite side of Handcock is fellow senior wideout Austan Kjerstad with 99 yards receiving on four catches and two touchdowns. 

The Eagles also have seniors Younger Amiotte and Trevor Schulz, who have combined for 107 yards receiving on four catches, with two TDs for Amiotte and one for Schulz. Both also provide a boost to the offensive line when needed.

The Eagles are also bolstered by one of their biggest lines in recent history that includes seniors Amiotte, Schulz, Riley Kerner, Brand Hilgenkamp and Kyler Kjerstad.

Heathershaw said for most of his starters, with how explosive their offense is, they know they need to take advantage of the few opportunities they get. With Mohr averaging a touchdown in no more than every three carries and Handcock a touchdown in two-thirds of his receptions, the guys are doing just that. For the most part, a lot of the starters don’t see much playing time in the second half.

“We know that at the wide receiver spot. If we get the ball, we've got to score a touchdown,” Hancock said. “We get 15 offensive plays a half. So we know that if we want to score a touchdown, we've got to make a play, and Tanner (Volmer) is going to put it in the right spot every time.”

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“I think the nice part is you can attack teams kind of however you want, based upon how they play defensively,” Heathershaw said. “I think that's kind of the beauty of our offensive system, with the athletes that we have, is we just have a pretty big playbook to be able to utilize the athletes that we have.”

Mohr said that he and his teammates have a “next man up” mentality. When a defense tries to shut down one of them, it’s on the other guys to make up for it. 

“We can kind of just mix it up every game,” Mohr said. “When the defense slows us down when we want to throw the ball, then we can run the ball. Then me and Tanner (Volmer) can run the ball. We kind of just fire off on all cylinders, and it all just goes back to our offensive line, and coach Heathershaw.”

Over the past week, the Eagles have taken advantage of their bye week to get a little healed up and rested. While they don’t have any significant injuries, some of the players have minor dings and bruises, and said they were glad to have some time to rest.

As seniors, Handcock and the other 10 seniors said the gut punch of losing to Wolsey-Wessington 30-28 in the semifinals last year has been driving the team since last fall. 

“We know how hard it's going to be to get there, and we know what we're going to have to fight through injuries,” Handcock said. “And when we get to the playoffs, there's going to be a team that probably punches us in the mouth a little bit. We got to fight back, but we're ready for that and we're so excited for it.”

As the Eagles are excited to see how far they can go this postseason with aspirations of making it to the DakotaDome, this year has been a breakout season for Kjerstad, according to Heathershaw, as he hadn’t seen nearly as much playing time in seasons past.

“It's a great feeling to have put in all this hard work, and it is actually paying off. It gets pretty hard to keep going sometimes, like when it's eight o'clock at night, you just got done with work or whatever, you have to come in here and work out,” Kjerstad said. “It gets pretty hard sometimes, but it's worth it knowing that we could be a state championship team.”

With so many weapons to utilize for the Eagles, whether on the ground running with Mohr or through the air with Handcock and Kjerstad on the perimeter, Heathershaw said the Eagles haven’t even utilized junior quarterback Tanner Volmer to his full potential.

Through the air, Volmer is 17 of 29 for 491 yards, nine touchdowns with a long of 67 yards and a QB rating of 142.6. On the ground, Volmer is second on the team in rushing, behind Mohr, with 126 yards on 12 carries with three touchdowns and a long of 58 yards.

Wall quarterback Tanner Volmer runs for yardage against Harding County/Bison at Wall on Aug. 29. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

While Volmer admits he doesn’t feel like he has to do as much as he did last year, the second-year starter isn’t complaining about it.

“It is kind of disappointing, but it's also a good feeling that I don't need to do too much to have a good game,” Volmer said of not being utilized as much as he knows he could be. “I like to win the games. That's all I like to do.”

The Eagles return to action on Friday, Sept. 26, hosting the Buffaloes from Stanley County at 6 p.m. for their homecoming game.