PHOTO OF THE DAY: A SIGNATURE WIN

Head coach Dustin Tschetter and offensive coordinator Austin Unruh celebrate with their team a go-ahead score in the third period that helped carry No. 3 Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy to a 42-28 win over No. 1 Elkton-Lake Benton in Freeman Friday night, Sept. 6.

Here’s a full recap of the night.

PHOENIX TREAT FANS TO ‘CULTURE WIN’

by Jeremy Waltner

It might not be the ultimate goal of a state championship, but Friday night in Freeman was pretty fun for the Phoenix.

Hosting No. 1-ranked Elkton-Lake Benton in its home opener on a cool but exquisite late-summer night, No. 3 Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy treated its fans to an electric 42-28 victory in what was the most anticipated matchup of Week 3 across all of South Dakota — and one of the biggest football games played in Freeman — ever.

Consider all that was at stake in a game that could very well be a preview of the Class 9AA state championship game come November:

Home field advantage throughout the playoffs. With the toughest part of the schedule out of the way — Parkston, Bon Homme and now Elkton-Lake Benton — it’s unlikely the Phoenix will lose the remainder of the regular season, meaning they will finish 8-0 and lock up home field advantage throughout the postseason’s first, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. It would be the first time that has happened since Freeman won its fourth-straight Class 9AA football championship in 1999 and fifth overall.

Piece of mind. Phoenix players and coaches, the communities they represent — and all of 9-man football, really — knew going into Friday night’s game that FMFA was good. Three successful seasons, including a state semifinal appearance last fall, have led to this — a season many had circled since the program was established in 2022. A grind-it-out 20-6 win at Parkston in the opener and a 57-7 blowout beatdown of a good Bon Homme team at Tyndall on Aug. 29 was the start the Phoenix were hoping for and triggered their move in the poll from No. 5 to No. 3. But how good were they really? Friday’s night’s game against No. Elkton-Lake Benton was the test.

Momentum: The Phoenix program has been simmering with energy these first weeks of the 2025 campaign, but much of it has been guarded. Some of that is probably due to a sense of humility, cautious optimism and some nervousness given all that is stake. This is after all, the final year of the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy cooperative because of Marion’s decision to establish an all-sports cooperative with Parker, its closest neighbor. But Friday’s win over the Elks felt like a code was finally cracked — a sense of relief that came spilling out with every step closer to victory — at 7-0 early, at 28-21 in the third quarter and most certainly at 42-28 in the closing minutes, when the offensive line cleared the way for quarterback Riley Tschetter to nose his way into the endzone on a 4th-and-1 to seal the deal. One can only think back to those state championship years of the late 1990s to find a time when the energy on Freeman’s side of the field was that palpable, and Friday night might have been at another level given all that was at stake — all the game meant.

And the good news for Phoenix fans? All of this will only stoke the fire as the Phoenix continue their journey, likely as the new No. 1 seed.

“It’s a big win, no doubt,” head coach Dustin Tschetter said sometime after 9:30 p.m. Friday night, as players and fans soaked in the still-fresh moment on the field. “We’ve got bigger things ahead that we hope to go out and accomplish, but this is four years in the making. They’re a damn good football team and we’ve learned a lot about who we are right now.”

Dustin Tschetter gives his kick return squad some final advice prior to Friday night’s game. PHOTO BY JEREMY WALTNER

Tschetter lauded his team’s defensive play in the second half, when the Phoenix held the Elkton-Lake Benton’s potent offense that put up 102 points the first two weeks of the season to just a single touchdown.

“We took it to them,” said the coach, who noted FMFA’s depth and ability to keep guys fresh on line made the difference in the game. “We were the better, more physical team.”

“Our mentality was to show up and dominate, and I thought we did that pretty good,” said junior Alaric Knittel, who had five solo tackles, was in on two others and took down a dangerous quarterback in senior Colt Beck. “They’ve got a pretty good offense and we took them down.”

Defensive lineman Al Knittel sets up for the pass rush during Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy’s Sept. 5 battle against Elkton-Lake Benton. The sophomore is a leading tackler through three games. PHOTO BY JEREMY WALTNER

While the defense set the tone, senior running back Luke Peters praised the guys in front of him who opened up the pathways.

“I just really want to thank my o-lineman,” said Peters, who rushed for a game-high 124 yards and two touchdowns, including a breakaway 43-yard scamper that gave the Phoenix a 28-21 lead early in the third period not long after Easton Tschetter recovered a fumble on the Elks’ opening drive of the second half. “I appreciate every one of those guys; my success is theirs.”

Luke Peters surges ahead for a few of his 124 yards rushing in Friday’s win over the Elks. PHOTO BY JEREMY WALTNER

Game notes

The Phoenix put Elkton-Lake Benton on notice early with a tidy, seven-play drive on the opening series of the game that included a diverse play-calling by Austin Unruh, who after the game called it “a culture win.” FMFA converted on an early third down on an out-route from senior tight end Tate Sorensen, made it another first-and-10 on a power run up the middle from Peters, and polished off the drive on a 30-yard pass from Tschetter to senior Karter Weber, who made a man miss and took it to the house.

For the Phoenix, the drive of the game might have been the last one of the first half. With Elkton-Lake Benton up 21-13 with under 2 minutes to play in the second quarter — and with the Elks set to get the ball to start the second half — it felt like FMFA was facing a key disadvantage. But a 45-yard pass from Tschetter to sophomore David Walter had the Phoenix down the field in a hurry, and Tschetter then took it himself for a 28-yard touchdown run — and successful two-point try — to square the game at 21 and set the tone for the second half.

Turnovers can be the difference makers in tight games, and that was the case on Friday night as the only one of the game was a big one. With the Elks in possession of the ball in Phoenix territory to start the second half — and looking to respond to FMFA’s touchdown prior — quarterback Colt Beck mishandled a snap that led to Easton Tschetter’s fumble recovery on the Elks’ 43. Two plays later, Peters broke free for a 43-yard touchdown run, with the extra point from sophomore Tayden Kerrigan giving the Phoenix a 28-21 lead — a lead they would not relinquish.

Three pass plays in the second half stand out. The first came with 3:44 left in the third period when Riley Tschetter dropped a buttery soft 34-yard pass right onto the fingertips of Sorensen, who never broke stride as he glided into the end zone to make it a 34-21 Phoenix advantage. “I don’t know how I caught that,” he said, noting — like Peters — the play of the offensive line. “It was the best catch of my career so far and it’s all because of them,” Sorensen said. “If they didn’t give Riley time, the ball wouldn’t have been thrown. Riley had a game. Everybody had a game.”

The other two big catches both sustained the Phoenix’s game-clinching, eight-minute drive in the fourth quarter. The first came on a 3rd-and-7 in their own territory when Riley Tschetter was forced out of the pocket but found a leaping Weber who hauled it in near the sideline for a 19-yard completion. And the second came on a 3rd-and-11 when Tschetter completed a 22-yard pass that went off the hands of Weber and into the arm of Walter, who made the one-handed grab at Elkton-Lake Benton’s 20-yard-line. Both catches set up two successful quarterback sneaks on 4th-and-1, the first with 2:46 to play at the 9-yard line and the second with 1:23 left, when Tschetter crossed the goal line to seal the win. Out of timeouts and down two scores, Elkton-Lake Benton was forced to pass on its ensuing possession, and the Phoenix held them on downs.

Game, set, match

So what did Sorensen see from his teammates?

“I saw communication, I saw passion, I saw teamwork, I saw rallying,” he said. “We’ve got a great culture. Over the past four years we’ve gotten better and better and worked for this moment and look where we are.”

Still, Sorensen emphasized, it’s early.

“It feels great to be on top, but it’s only the third game of the season,” he said. “We’ve got to enjoy this and get back after it on Monday. We played great, but we made mistakes. We’ve still got work to do.”

Freeman didn’t commit a turnover but was penalized four times for 25 yards which resulted in a number of longer conversion attempts. And while the defense was stout in the second half, it did give up 340 yards of offense, much of that coming in the first and second quarters.

Offensively, the Phoenix used a balance approach that saw 197 yards passing and 192 yards rushing. Walter caught three passes for 80 yards, Sorensen caught two for 60 and Weber brought in three passes for 48 yards.

Tschetter accounted for 260 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns while E. Tschetter led the defense with nine tackles. R. Tschetter and Knittel each had seven tackles, with Knittel, Peters, Sorensen and junior Quentin Andersen all recording sacks.

Both teams possessed the ball 12 times, with FMFA holding the ball for 24:43 minutes to the Elks’ 22:41.