Pirates' defense delivers critical stops in state championship shootout
Nov. 9—VERMILLION — In a game that featured 62 total points and nearly 700 total yards from the two highest-scoring offenses in Class 9B, it was the Avon defense that made a pair of championship-winning stops.
They were far from the only stops made in the game — Faulkton Area forced three turnovers, the Pirates recorded two takeaways of their own and each team punted once — but it was Avon that held firm at the most pivotal of moments to cement a 32-30 victory for the Class 9B championship.
Avon neared their season average of 38 points per game but kept Faulkton 10 points shy of their No. 1-ranked scoring average of 40 points per game.
"All week, we knew it was going to be a close one," Avon coach Justin Lukkes said. "We weren't going to run away with anything, I knew that. ... I'll take a one-point win or two-point win."
The first important stop came with 7:06 remaining in the third quarter. The Trojans had just scored a touchdown to pull within 24-22, but Avon denied the ensuing two-point conversion to preserve a lead it never relinquished. On the two-point try, Faulkton opted for a quarterback sneak by Layne Cotton, a look that had succeeded in three prior attempts, but was stonewalled by the Pirates' defense, led by the push of Al'Shamon Gunter, Landon Thury, Paxton Bierema and Landon Mudder.
"I was a little worried because their quarterback had been running well up the middle," Lukkes said. "But the kids just got it done, and I'm super proud of them."
Gunter led the Pirates with 10 tackles on the afternoon, while Aziah Meyer had nine tackles. Thury tacked on four tackles, including a sack, and an interception, and Bierema added an interception and seven tackles. Trace Pelton also recorded a sack, and Randall Powers added a third tackle for loss for the Pirates.
In the end, the failed conversion loomed large in a game decided by two points. It was the only two-point conversion stop of the day for either team.
"They just made a play," Faulkton coach Shayne Geditz said of the two-point attempt.
The second stop came on Faulkton's final possession. Capitalizing on a late Avon fumble, the Trojans were driving, looking to swipe the lead with less than 90 seconds to play.
But Avon's defense stiffened, pushing the Trojans into a fourth-and-8 situation. But after a pair of penalties — a delay of game, followed by an ineligible player downfield wiping out a potential touchdown — it became fourth-and-18 from the Avon 27-yard line with 1:21 on the clock.
From there, Avon defenders Noah Watchorn and Mudder knocked away a pass intended for Faulkton's Drake Mueller on the goal line, leaving just a pair of Bierema kneel downs and a celebration of the Pirates' first championship triumph since 2013.
"That was a huge defensive stop at the end of the game," Lukkes said. "I kept wanting to call a timeout, but I also wanted the clock to run. It ended up working out because the defense stepped up big at the end."
