PIERRE — The Pierre Governors put together some solid plays Friday night at Hollister Field, during a cold and messy, 35-21 loss to the state-ranked Brandon Valley Lynx. But the Govs couldn’t quite string enough of those plays together to walk away with the win.

Already looking at a 10-0 deficit with eight minutes left to play in the first half, Tanner Schaefer got the Govs on the board with a 38-yard touchdown run to pay dirt.

Laura Hatvedt | Capital Journal Pierre’s Josh Baker (73) and Garrett Weber (79) put up blocks against the Brandon Valley line while quarterback Graham Schuetzle (22) heads through the hole with his eye on the end zone Friday at Hollister Field. Advertisement

It was Schaefer’s first TD of the season.

"All year, we’ve been battling adversity, through injury and everything else," Pierre head coach Mike Busch said. "And the younger guys have really stepped up. They know their time is coming and they really rallied around that and answered the call — doing whatever they need to do to chip in and do their part on the field."

But the Lynx responded with a 69-yard touchdown pass of their own, to take the cushion back to 16-7 after the kick flew just to the outside of the uprights.

Schaefer rushed for another first down, but the Govs weren’t able to capitalize on the drive, and soon Brandon Valley had extended the lead to 22-7.

Defensively, Seth Brotherton came up with several big tackles against a big and fast Brandon Valley backfield, which at times was hard for the Govs to contain.

"Brandon Valley’s got the ability to move the ball quickly and effectively against just about any defensive scheme you throw at them," Busch said. "They were right there tonight."

At times the Govs were able to score quickly as well. Pierre quarterback Graham Schuetzle made an exciting scramble for a first down to close out the third quarter. He then completed a pass to the Govs’ Ryan Hahn for another first down from 15 yards out. With Travis Adney in the zone, a pass interference call against the Lynx gave the Govs a first and goal from the two, and the Pierre line pushed Schuetzle into the end zone.

But once again Brandon Valley quickly responded with another touchdown. On the ensuing kick, however, the Lynx opened up a big hole and allowed Schuetzle to slip right past on the receipt. Try as they might, the Lynx couldn’t catch him and Schuetzle slid into the end zone, followed by a muddy pile of Lynx players.

"Suddenly, Graham pulls off a big kick return for us and we have a ball game again," Busch said. "It was tough out there tonight. The guys were sliding all over the field, but they stuck with it."