Warriors use big plays to beat Trojans

PARKSTON — After a slow first quarter, the Winner High School football team’s offense took off, leading to a 39-0 win over Parkston Friday.

Winner went three-and-out in its first two drives with three false-start penalties, but a 70-yard touchdown run by Ben Connot early in the second quarter jump-started the team.

“Up front, we’re kind of a work in progress,” Winner head coach Dan Aaker said, referring to his team’s offensive line. “It just took a few series for our kids to be comfortable playing against an opponent.”

Connot added a 50-yard carry in the quarter to set up a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tanner Fritz to put Winner up 12-0 with 5:55 left in the first half

“Big plays happen,” Parkston coach Eric Norden said. “We didn’t keep our responsibilities and they made some big yards on us.”

The Warriors took a 19-0 lead into halftime after Fritz added a second touchdown carry on the final play of the half.

“After Connot’s big run, we got a lot of confidence, which was important,” Aaker said.

Connot finished the game with 186 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 11 carries.

Fritz carried the ball six times for 27 yards and four touchdowns. He was 2-of-6 passing for 26 yards.

Parkston’s early success came when the team ran the ball with Jesse Thuringer. Thuringer finished the game with 36 yards on 14 carries.

“The first quarter we played really well,” Norden said. “We executed some plays really well and the blocking was pretty good up front.”

Wes Dvorak recorded 30 yards rushing for the Trojans on two carries.

Trailing at half, Parkston was forced to try getting bigger chunks of yardage and took to the air.

Winner’s defense was able to take advantage of Zachary Scott’s passing, intercepting four of the junior’s eight passes.

“Once we started limiting yards on first down, we really started to take a hold defensively,” Aaker said. “We got four turnovers and we pride ourselves on being a team that gets turnovers.”

Scott finished 3-of-8 for 27 yards passing, the biggest play coming on a 21 yard screen pass to Brady Reiff.

Winner (1-0) faces off with St. Thomas More in its next game. That game is set for 6 p.m. Friday in Rapid City.

Parkston (0-1) looks to bounce back against Wagner at 7 p.m. Friday in Wagner.

Winner 39, Parkston 0

Second Quarter

W: Ben Connot 70 run (Run failed)

W: Tanner Fritz 1 run (Pass failed)

W: Fritz 10 run (Garrett Gronlund kick)

Third Quarter

W: Connot 7 run (Gronlund kick)

Fourth Quarter

W: Fritz 1 run (Gronlund kick)

W: Fritz 5 run (Kick failed)

Tags: sports, updates, parkston, winner, football