HURON — The Huron Tigers dropped their regular season finale Thursday night, surrendering three touchdowns while mustering one, as they fell 21-7 to the Brookings Bobcats at Tiger Field. The game set up a possible rematch next Thursday, as Class 11AA teams begin playoff action. The only difference is that the game would take place in Brookings and Huron will have both Walker Schiltz and Kobe Busch back on the field.
The Bobcats came into the contest at the No. 3 seed, based on season power points and Huron (No. 6) needed to defeat Brookings, and have Spearfish upset the No. 5 Mitchell Kernels to move up into a home playoff game for next week’s playoff first round game.
Unfortunately, neither of those things took place.
Schiltz and Busch however, who were ineligible for Thursday night’s game after being ejected from Huron’s game versus Spearfish last week, will be back in uniform for next week’s first round playoff game.
“We did some good things tonight, some things I really liked,” said Tiger coach Michael Schmitz. “We just didn;t do enough good things and seemed to get in our own way at times tonight.”
The first quarter quickly settled into a battle for field possession, as both teams managed to earn first downs, but couldn’t sustain any drive. Brookings managed to break the tie as the quarter wound down, as the Bobcats went 62 yards in 10 plays, capped by a two-yard run from Carter Eidem for a 7-0 lead.
The drive was keyed by a 33-yard Eidem run, where the Tigers appeared to have the senior running back bottled up, but he slithered free. Later in the drive, Huron seemed to have quarterback Jacob Schoon cut off on a roll-out run/pass option, only to see him gain 10 yards on a 3rd and nine play to extend a drive.
Huron responded with its best drive of the first half, as quarterback Jett McGirr earned a pair of first downs with his legs before the drive fizzled.
Yardage again became difficult to gain throughout most of the remainder of the half, until action again picked up in the closing moments. A perfect combination of a punt by Bryce Steffen and coverage by the Tiger gunners pinned Brookings at its own one-yard line. Three straight Schoon runs moved the ball out of the shadow of the Bobcats’  goalposts and the ensuing punt gave Huron it’s best field position of the half, at the Brookings 37-yard line.
McGirr floated a pass to Cooper Fryberger on the first play, connecting down the middle for a 30-yard completion that set the Tigers up first and goal. But with no time outs remaining, Huron was forced to throw the ball and four incomplete passes later the first half expired with Brookings holding the same 7-0 lead.
The teams traded possessions through much of the third quarter, but when things broke loose it happened in a big way.

Huron took over on its own 36-yard line with just over five minutes in the quarter. McGirr again found Fryberger on a simple stop route for 17 yards and then Chipper Shillingstad ripped of a 10-yard run to put the Tigers in business at the Brookings 37. McGirr ran for five yards, then on the next play, faked a pitch to Shillingstad, turned up the middle, bounced off a couple of Bobcat defenders and hit the burners, scoring on a 32-yard run. After a Thacher Dramstad PAT, the score was tied.
The Bobcats wasted no time in responding, as Schoon and Devine both had solid rushes, and then connected on a 12-yard pass play that moved Brookings into Huron territory. The Tiger defense stiffened, forcing a third and five from its own 43 yard line. But Schoon lofted a pass down the left side of the field connecting with Cole Mahlum, who took the ball off the fingertips of the Huron defender, giving the Bobcats a 14-7 lead.
The momentum that Brookings procured on the short drive continued, as the Tigers were unable to cover the kickoff, putting the Bobcats in business at the Huron 27. Schoon ran three times and Parker Beers ran twice, the final run from one yard out for a score that pushed the Brookings lead to 21-7.
Needing a quick response, the Tigers buckled down and started the next drive with a McGirr screen pass to Shillingstad that got Huron out of bad field position. After five plays and another first down later, Huron faced a 3rd and 14 play. But a long pass down the center was held up in the breeze, allowing Brookings’ Isaac Oetken to step in front of McGirr’s attempt to slam the door on the final Huron drive of the night.
Brookings took over and was content to simply grind out first downs and keep the clock running, which they did for the final seven-and-a-half minutes of the game.
Huron had 239 yards in total offense, with McGirr accounting for 87 yards on 13 carries on the ground and 107 through the air, on a 5-for-19 effort, with one interception. Shillingstad had 41 yards on 10 carries.
The Bobcats were led on the ground by Eidem’s 96 yards on 12 carries, as Brookings rolled up 228 yards on the ground. Schoon ran for 78 yards and threw for 71 yards as he ended 5-for-9, with one touchdown. Beers closed the night with 19 carries for 45 yards.
“We just have to keep pushing,” Schmitz said. “No matter who or where we play next week, I need to get to work and make sure that we are as prepared as we can be for that game.”

BROOKINGS     7 0 7 7 — 21
HURON         0 0 7 0 — 7

Scoring Summary
1st quarter
Brookings - 1:08 - Carter Eidem, 2-yard run. (Justin Devine PAT)
3rd quarter
Huron - 3:50 - Jett McGirr, 32-yard run. (Thacher Dramstad (PAT)
Brookings - :43 - Cole Mahlum, 43-yard pass from Jacob Schoon. (Devine PAT)
4th quarter
Brookings - 10:45 - Parker Beers, 1-yard run. (Devine PAT)