Aberdeen Central vs. Pierre

Two teams who hope to learn from first game mistakes will tangle tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Hollister Field in Pierre in an Eastern South Dakota Conference matchup.

Aberdeen Central and Pierre both fell behind early last week and ended up on the losing end. Central, which lost two fumbles and three interceptions, trailed Sioux Falls Roosevelt 32-0 at halftime and lost 46-0.

The Governors, who trailed Yankton 37-8 at halftime, suffered with procedure penalties in the first half before losing 43-20.

“We had some bright spots,” said Aberdeen coach Mike Flakus. “We had a good effort from some of the kids. We can execute better than we did.”

Pierre coach Joe Kramer, a former Northern State assistant, also found things to like about the first game.

“Two things happened last week,” he said. “Number one, we played a lot of kids. The other one is we got down early and came back and played with them in the second half. Inexperience and nerves were definitely factors.”

The Golden Eagles lost two players to injury, Zach Weig and Devin Severson. Carter Paulson, Schyler Kumpf and Sam Mercure will step into their spots this week.

“We'll be working other kids into starting spots and have some different starters in the next three games,” said Flakus. “Hopefully, better execution will help cut down the turnovers. Our cover teams did a good job. We didn't make any big plays but they didn't hurt us.”

Pierre is predominately a running team but quarterback Jared Neilan can throw the ball. The defense is a base 4-3 without a lot of blitzing and stunting.

“Hopefully, being at home and having a game under our belts will help,” said Kramer. “We can be a pretty good football team if we stay healthy.”

The Governors offer plenty of challenges.

“Their defense will come at you hard,” said Flakus. “On offense no matter what your defense does their running game has an answer. They have good speed overall and we'll have to play well to beat them. They are real similar to us.”

Game Notes: Yankton's Connor Fitzsimmons scored five touchdowns in the Pierre game. ... The game will be broadcast on KGIM-AM (1420). ... In other ESD action Brandon Valley is at Watertown, Mitchell at Brookings, and Huron at Yankton.

Radio Broadcast: The football game will be broadcast on KGIM-AM (1420).

Starting Lineups

Aberdeen Central

OFFENSE

Pos. Name

Ht. Wt. Yr.

TE Jake PortraÉ6-0 160 Sr.