PAGE 3 FALL SPORTS 2016 Howard ‘Hod’ Nielsen, A South Dakota Sports Hall Of Fame Writer And Broadcaster, Spent Much Of His Life Covering Games At Crane-Youngworth Field. The Yankton High School and University of South Dakota, who passed away in 2013, alum left behind several great stories of games played at the venerable venue. Heupel Showed Heisman-Like Ability In Final Game At Yankton First S.D. Night NOTE: This column from Hod Nielsen originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2000, edition of the Press & Dakotan. Now that Aberdeen’s (and Oklahoma’s) Josh Heupel is a leading candidate for the Heisman trophy, emblematic of college football’s outstanding player each year, memories of his high school days are certainly in order — and the 3,500 fans who filed into Yankton’s Crane-Youngworth Field on Oct. 13, 1995, have one of the finest memories. The Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles were in town and they had one thing in mind — they were here to break the 23-game win streak owned by the Bucks over them. Not since an early October date in 1972 had an Aberdeen team came out on top in the annual ESD struggle. But, much as the Golden Eagles were charged up for the game, so were the Yankton Bucks, who were gunning for their second undefeated season in a row. The stage was set. It was Jim Miner’s first year as the head coach of the Bucks after helping Max Hawk to his successful 30-year career. Jim knew that the Eagles, led by the talented Josh Heupel, would be a challenge, but he didn’t realize how big a challenge. The game started with the Bucks grinding out their first score on a 79-yard drive, sophomore running back Scott Nedved (now a star for the SD State Jackrabbits) scooting to paydirt on a 38-yard gallop to set off the fireHod works. Aberdeen came back on five straight Heupel completions, passing to his all-state companion Dan Graf (now an all NCC receiver for North Dakota) and to Tony Huth, but he had to settle for a 38-yard field goal and the Bucks led 6-3 after a quarter. In the action-packed second period the Bucks scored on a 43yard Nick Meyers field goal and a 12 yard keeper by Mason Mehrman (Augustana Vikings.) After Derek Budig’s (Augustana) two point conversion run, Heupel did his thing. He hit his receivers for three long passes and a Huth 20-yard TD before Yankton got another Meyers field goal to give the home team a 20-10 lead with just 48 seconds to go in the first half. In that short time frame, the Heupel to Graf combination hit four straight, with a 33-yard strike to Graf as time ran out — making it an exciting 20-17 halftime lead for Yankton, with momentum noticeably swinging to the Golden Eagles side. NIELSEN To open the second half, Aberdeen covered a Yankton fumble at midfield and then grabbed their first lead as Heupel passed, first to Graf for 39 yards and then an 11-yard TD strike to Huth to put the visitors up 24-20 — a short lead that the Bucks got back later after a pulsating 64-yard Yankton drive that saw Budig hit for 12 yards, Nedved for 17 and Wurth for 18 before Mehrman showed his passing arm as he completed his only pass of the game — a 17-yard touchdown to tight end Matt Christensen (Augustana.) In the dramatic fourth period Budig capped another Yankton drive from the one, quickly followed by a 53-yard Heupel aerial to Graf to make the score Yankton 33-Aberdeen 31 with 7:45 left on the clock. That’s when the vaunted Buck ground game paid off. The Golden Eagles never got the ball back as Yankton, helped by a key 30-yard run on fourth-and-14 by Mehrman, successfully ran out the clock with a two-point victory. In the exciting clash Heupel passed for 385 yards on 25 completions in 44 tries. The Golden Eagles ran just six ground plays, losing one yard in rushing. Meanwhile the Bucks countered with 386 rushing yards, with Nedved getting 150, Budig, in spite of playing on an injured leg, managed 101 yards in 16 tries and Mehrman scrambled for an even 100 yards in 12 carries. Mehrman tried just four passes in the game and completed one, that one for 17 yards and six points. The Bucks and Golden Eagles went to the playoff the next week. Both won their opener, Yankton over Sioux Falls Lincoln and Aberdeen over Huron, but the Golden Eagles were upended by the Brandon Valley Lynx 22-21 the next step and the Bucks went all the way, stopping Mitchell and Sturgis before outscoring the Lynx 20-14 in the Dome to complete their second straight undefeated championship year. A happy coach Jim Miner said after the game, “Give Josh Heupel and the Golden Eagles all the credit in the world. We had won 23 straight games in the series and they really wanted to get this one — but we held them off in as good a game as I have ever been involved in.” Heupel went on to Weber State in Utah, but transferred to Snow Junior College in the same state. He was widely recruited after his Jaycee career and wound up in Oklahoma, where his athletic and leadership skills have propelled him to the honors that he has received in leading the Sooners to the national championship game against Florida State next month. Our Heisman vote went to Josh for his courage and excellent leadership as well as his football skills — and so do our best wishes in the battle for the national title. Halloween ‘91 Provided Another Cold Showdown NOTE: This column from Hod Nielsen originally appeared in the Nov. 2, 2002, edition of the Press & Dakotan. also “Tricks or Treaters” didn’t even venture into the P&D’s Hertz, streets. KYNT’s Kooistra In the short The South Dakota high school Tell Their Stories but colorful football playoffs, which came history of the Of This Chilly into being with the completion of South Dakota Night At Cranea weather-proof playing facility, state high school Youngworth. USD’s DakotaDome in Vermillion, football playoffs, PAGE 4 back in 1981, has added a new there are some dimension to the state’s sports fans coaching names enjoyment as well as to the wellthat stand out rounded schedule overseen by the — like Gary Culver of the VermilSouth Dakota High School Actinilion Tanagers, Jim Uttecht of the ties Association. West Central Trojans, Bob Burns One of the most interestof Sioux Falls O’Gorman, and Steve ing week’s of the playoff season Kueter, who replaced Burns when occurred just 11 years ago last when Bob’s health dictated the Thursday night. It was a Halloween end of his career, and Arlin Likness to remember. who brought three 11B titles to The first round of the 1991 Hamlin before adding another 11AA playoffs were set and ready, but to Yankton. This splendid group the weatherman became a real of coaches has a couple of other pain. On that day it snowed - and standout, Mike Klinedinst, who snowed hard. The Yankton Bucks coached the Brandon Valley Lynx were scheduled to host the defend- in their early days in Class 11A to ing champion Brandon Valley three state championships in that Lynx that night - a night when the division and then added three more when they moved to Class 11AA, and Max Hawk, who coached three 11AA champions and posted the state’s outstanding football coaching mark with 284 wins and only 72 losses and a pair of tie games in his remarkable 38-year career. Mike now coaches the Sioux Falls Lincoln Patriots, a team that hit the skids about the time when playoffs began and have had some tough times since. But this season the Patriots, in his third year as their coach, reacted positively to the Klinedinst way of doing things and gained a big step on the road back to respectability. Every South Dakota football fan recalls the 1991 playoffs, when a ton of snow fell all over the state — and Yankton’s CraneYoungworth Field, the site of one of the big school playoff games, had a 10-inch snow cover at game time. Although, at this date 11 years later you can find several thousand Yankton and Brandon fans who claim to have been in that hardy group assembled on that snowy site at the kickoff that night, it would have been difficult to count over a few hundred who were acyually there, and they saw a memorable tilt. One of the smaller Bucks provided the hard-fought win for Yankton that night, as defensive back Joey Lefdahl stepped in front of one of the rare Lynx passes in the game somewhere between the thirty and the fifty yard line (who knows where, there were no visible yard markers) and ambled into the east end zone for the only score of the 6-0 Yankton win. Many have surmised — but few have really heard — about the story of why that game was played in those stark weather conditions. Those that knew the two stubborn coaches (stubborness is a necessary attribute to being a really good football coach, I have found over the years and Max Hawk and Mike Klinedinst have stamped themselves as such on more than Cimburek P&D FILE PHOTO game with the oft-forgotten third element of football. Once such incident that sticks out for me occurred in 2005, a season that saw YHS go into the state finals undefeated. Brookings broke a 14-all tie with a Jeff Sebern 42-yard field goal with 39 seconds remaining. The Yankton crowd was still in shock when the Bobcats kicked off. Drew Heithoff got the ball on the 9-yard line Locally Owned & Operated E. Hwy. 50 Yankton 665-5568 102 N. Main, Avon, SD FARMERS CO-OP ELEVATOR AVON LOCKER Fuel Service & Ranch Supply For All Your 286-3917 104 N. Main St. Avon, SD 605-286-3427 8-5 Weekdays 8-12 Saturdays Needs AVON, SD PH. 286-3297 One thing that I found was a column of 20 to 30 years ago about the first night football game ever played in the state of South Dakota. I was quite sure that the first one was played on Crane Field at Yankton College (since renamed Crane-Youngworth Field) in either 1930 or 1931, but my good friend John Egan, of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, claimed the distinction for Sioux Falls. Another highly-regarded colleague, Larry DeSautels of the Aberdeen American News, got into the picture, claiming it for the Hub City, circa 1931. That’s when the knowledgeable and wily Carl Youngworth, longtime Yankton college coach and athletic boss, got into the act. Carl, it seems, worked with a popular Yankton citizen, Art Tague, on the possibility of night football, as it had dramatically increased the gate receipts in places that had tried it. At the time Art was a salesman for the Giant Manufaturing Co. of Omaha, and that company had designed some of the first outdoor lights and wanted a place to show them off. Carl and Art decided that the Yankton College field would be the best place. They, with help from the Northwestern Public Service Co. put eight light poles, four on the south side and four on the north at the proposed site — the date was in September of 1930. (Those poles lasted until the Yankton Quarterback Club and Morgan T. Smith took them down before they fell down over 40 years later.) The first night game was played on Friday night, Oct. 10, 1930 and was between Carl’s YC Greyhounds and the Western Union College Telegraphers. That distinctive LeMars, Iowa, college name and nickname was later changed to Westmar College Eagles. The game featured some all-time Yankton College stars and was a runaway 52-6 win for the speedy Greyhounds. Toy Southmayd ran for four TDs and passed for another, while the legendary Smokey Joe Mendel, playing in spite of a leg injury, brought the large crowd to their feet with a couple of his spectacular long runs, and Tyndall’s Tom Ptak added another long TD run with a pass interception. Another YC Hall-of-Famer, Jack Wilson, was the Greyhound center. and raced down the home sideline, bringing the 4,000 fans at Crane-Youngworth to their feet to cap a 21-17 victory. “When the 2005 Yankton Buck football season becomes part of the fabled YHS history, Friday night’s unbelievable 21-17 victory Tues. & Wed. Butchering Days call for appointment over the tough-luck Brookings Bobcats will be one of the contests that will be replayed many times,” longtime Yankton writer and columnist Hod Nielsen said in his story of the game. “The play that the 4,000 excited fans who came out on the summer-like evening to watch, was made AVON 9/6 9/13 9/15 9/17 9/20 9/22 9/24 9/27 10/3 10/4 10/6 10/13 10/17 10/18 10/21 10/24 Volleyball vs. Bon Homme 6:15 p.m. at Parkston 6:30 p.m. at Andes Central-Dak. Christian (DC) 6:30 p.m. vs. Tripp-Delmont-Armour 6:15 p.m. at Wagner 6:30 p.m. vs. Hanson 6:15 p.m Cavalier Clash (Tyndall) TBA vs. Colome 6:15 p.m. vs. Irene-Wakonda 6:15 p.m. S.F. Pentagon Tourn. TBA at Scotland 6:30 p.m. at Mitchell Christian 6:30 p.m. vs. Burke-South Central 6:15 p.m. vs. Bridgewater-Emery 6:15 p.m. vs. Freeman 6:15 p.m. at Ethan 6:30 p.m. at Corsica-Stickney (C) 6:30 p.m. vs. Menno 6:15 p.m. at Gayville-Volin (G) 7:30 p.m. Avon Lumber 121 E. Railway Avon, SD 605-286-3332 8/26 9/2 9/9 9/16 9/23 9/30 10/14 8/27 9/7 9/12 9/14 9/19 9/24 9/28 10/6 Cross Country Mitchell Inv. 10 a.m. Freeman Academy Inv. 3 p.m. Wagner Inv. (Pickstown) 4 p.m. Flyer Inv. (Freeman) 1 p.m. Bon Homme Inv. (Tyndall) 2 p.m. Platte-Geddes Inv. (Platte) 10 a.m. Marion Inv. 2 p.m. Parkston Inv. 4:15 p.m. CROSBY-JAEGER FUNERAL HOME INC. Avon, SD 119 N. Poplar St. Wagner, SD 124 E. Hwy 50 384-3781 Springfield, SD 604 8th St. 369-2488 Jim & Julie Jaeger and Chad Peters Follow @JCimburek on Twitter. Volleyball 8/25 8/27 8/30 9/6 9/8 9/13 Football (Home matches in Wakonda) (Home games in Irene) vs. Scotland 6:15 p.m. at Parker 4 p.m. at Freeman 6:15 p.m. at Beresford 6:15 p.m. at Bridgewater-Emery (B) 6:15 p.m. vs. Freeman Academy-Marion 6:15 p.m. 9/19 vs. Lennox 7:30 p.m. 9/20 vs. Baltic 6:15 p.m. 9/22 at Avon 6:15 p.m. 9/26 at Canton 6:15 p.m. 9/27 vs. Menno 6:15 p.m. 9/29-10/1 Tri-Valley Conf. TBA 10/4 vs. Gayville-Volin 6:15 p.m. 10/6 at Gayville-Volin (G)/vs. Menno 6:15 p.m. 10/11 at Alcester-Hudson (A) 6:15 p.m. 10/18 vs. Viborg-Hurley 6:15 p.m. 10/21 at Ethan 6:30 p.m. Football vs. Scotland 7 p.m. vs. Tripp-Delmont-Armour 7 p.m. at Gayville-Volin (G) 7 p.m. vs. Corsica-Stickney 7 p.m. at Colome 7 p.m. at Burke-South Central (B) 7 p.m. at Andes Central-Dak. Christian (Lake Andes) 7 p.m. 10/20 vs. Alcester-Hudson 7 p.m. play, it is also one of the most exciting. Fans surround the field on all sides, whether in the bleachers or standing on the sidelines. The trees that shield the field from the cold October breezes also hold in some of the sound, making it an incredible atmosphere. There is no place in South Dakota quite like CraneYoungworth Field. And I, for one, am happy that the Bucks will continue to play there for years to come. IRENE-WAKONDA Drew Heithoff, center, returns a kickoff for a touchdown to give Yankton a victory during the 2005 season. For Press & Dakotan sports editor James D. Cimburek, the Bucks’ bigplay ability is one of the things he thinks of in regards to Crane-Youngworth Field. 8/25 8/30 9/1 Gerstner Oil Co. NOTE: This is an excerpt from a column by Hod Nielsen, originally published on Dec. 1, 2001, by the Press & Dakotan. with just 23 seconds left in the game and was one that made senior Drew Heithoff the ‘Man of the Hour’ in the River City.” The most recent of those game-changing plays came in the most recent game played at Crane-Youngworth, when a “pick-6” by the Bucks’ Rayden Terca turned the tide for a 19-7 semifinal victory over Harrisburg. As Yankton debated about its football home for the foreseeable future, the state looked on for one simple reason: While Crane-Youngworth may be one of the toughest places for an opponent to FROM PAGE 2 seasons, 1972 and 2003. When you break down some of those numbers, the figures are even more imposing: 31-11 against Pierre, 25-9 against Brookings, 38-6 against Mitchell 33-4 against Aberdeen Central, 35-2 (and winners of 22 straight) against Huron in the playoff era. Win streaks against Rapid City Central, Sioux Falls Lincoln and Sturgis that predate the playoff era. (In fairness, YHS has not played Lincoln since 2005, and the Patriots have won three state titles since then.) Part of what has led the Bucks to be dominant, especially at Crane-Youngworth, is their ability to make the big play, to be dynamic, as it were. One thing you learn early then shooting a Yankton game is that you don’t take plays off, especially not special teams plays. From the “Buck return” — the handoff (or fake handoff) on nearly every kickoff return — to Yankton’s uncanny ability to block punts and kicks, YHS has found a way to change a NIELSEN | PAGE 4 Football Game Ever Played Was At Crane Field BERNDT FARM EQUIPMENT One mile west of Hwy 46 & 37 junction 286-3233 9/2 9/9 9/16 9/23 9/30 10/7 10/14 10/20 vs. Viborg-Hurley at Parker vs. Mount Vernon-Plankinton at Alcester-Hudson (A) vs. Corsica-Stickney vs. Garretson at Chester Area at Baltic 8/26 8/30 Beresford Inv. 10 a.m. Dakota Valley Inv. (N. Sioux City) 4:15 p.m. Scotland Inv. 4:15 p.m. Nike Heartland (S.F.) 11 a.m. Flyer Inv. (Freeman) 1 p.m. Alcester-Hudson Inv. 4 p.m. Cougar Inv. (Burke) 2 p.m. Howard Inv. 3 p.m. Tri-Valley Conf. (Irene) 3 p.m. 9/6 9/10 9/14 9/19 9/29 10/3 10/5 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. Cross Country P.O. 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