Late rally helps Mustangs beat Blackhawks 28-18

WESSINGTON SPRINGS — After four first-half turnovers sent Mount Vernon into the locker room trailing 12-8 at halftime, the Mustangs got the offense going in the second half, pulling away from Woonsocket/Wessington Springs in the fourth quarter for a 28-18 win in a high school football game in Wessington Springs. Quarterback Brian Kluth was a big part of the turnaround for Mount Vernon. After going 1-for-10 for six yards with two interceptions in the first half, the Mustangs’ new quarterback went 5-for-7 for 57 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

WESSINGTON SPRINGS — After four first-half turnovers sent Mount Vernon into the locker room trailing 12-8 at halftime, the Mustangs got the offense going in the second half, pulling away from Woonsocket/Wessington Springs in the fourth quarter for a 28-18 win in a high school football game in Wessington Springs.

Quarterback Brian Kluth was a big part of the turnaround for Mount Vernon. After going 1-for-10 for six yards with two interceptions in the first half, the Mustangs’ new quarterback went 5-for-7 for 57 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

Kluth also scored the go-ahead touchdown when his 15-yard-run with 1:17 to play in the third quarter gave his team a 22-18 lead, and his 3-yard pass to Kyle Weiss with 5:59 left in the fourth gave the Mustangs a 28-18 lead and sealed the win.

“We shot ourselves in the foot three or four times in the first half, and our team just got brought down,” Mount Vernon coach Ryan Kristensen said. “I told the seniors they had to answer and somebody had to step up. My quarterback, Brian Kluth, stepped up. He got comfortable back there, and we opened up some passing.”

Mount Vernon’s Robbie Kazi ran for 106 of his 225 yards in the first half, but two interceptions and a Kazi fumble — all of which came on the Mustangs’ own side of the field, helped Woonsocket/Wessington Springs take a 12-8 lead at halftime.

The biggest blow for the Mustangs came when Woonsocket/Wessington Springs’ Trevor Kenobbie snatched a Kluth pass out of the air at the line of scrimmage and returned it 62 yards to give his team that 12-8 lead with 2:52 left in the half.

“I told my guys ‘guess what,’ ” Kristensen said. “You may have played the worst half you’re ever going to play, but you’re only down four. You have to look at the bright side. I said I wanted one person to step up and be my leader, and my quarterback did that.”

Still, the Blackhawks extended the lead only two minutes into the second half when Eric Warkenthien’s quarterback sneak put Woonsocket/Wessington Springs ahead 18-8. That play was set up by a 42-yard pass from Warkenthien to Kole Kopfmann, which took the Blackhawks down to the 4-yard-line on the third play of the second half.

But the Blackhawks, who managed to keep the sticks moving in the first half thanks largely to some third-down completions from Warkenthien to Kenobbie, couldn’t sustain much offense after that. The Blackhawks had only three first downs in the second half — one of which came on a 15-yard facemask penalty — and didn’t have a single first down in the final quarter.

“In the second half, we really couldn’t find any consistency,” Woonsocket/Wessington Springs coach Jason Kolousek said. “Once they took those outs away, we just couldn’t get any first downs to build what we were doing. We really had one big play offensively in the second half, and that was it.”

Kazi scored the game’s first touchdown on a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Woonsocket/Wessington Springs got its first score on a 2-yard run from Collin Baumgart. In the third quarter, it was Kluth’s first touchdown pass — a 12-yarder to Jarod Deinert, that cut the Blackhawks’ lead to 18-16, before Kluth also had a hand in both the next two scores as well.

Warkenthien finished 7-for-15 through the air with 110 yards and an interception. Kenobbie caught five passes for 76 yards and Baumgart carried the ball 18 times for 75 yards, and also made 16 tackles. Kole Kopfmann had 18 tackles to lead the Blackhawks.

For Mount Vernon, Kluth finished 6-for-17 for 63 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Kazi had a touchdowns to go with his 225 yards, Kyle Gerlach had 19 tackles and Jarod Deinert had 14 tackles.

Woonsocket/Wessington Springs will play next week against White Lake/Plankinton in White Lake, and Mount Vernon will host Chester.

First Quarter