Damian Villarreal, The Wolverines’ Leading Rusher Friday Night, Is Pursued By HMS Defenders Jr. Araiza (25), Adam Schierholz (71) And Ethan Wiersma.

Teagan Barenfuss Pulls Down HMS Running Back James Gellerman While Jayven Miller (57) Adds His Weight To The Situation.

Two football teams, each in search of their first victory of the season, met Friday night at Paullina. In a back-and-forth game, it was an extra point kick by Derek Paulsen in overtime that gave South O’Brien a narrow 29-28 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. The Wolverines are now 1-3 in Class A District 1 and 1-5 overall.
South O’Brien went on defense first in the overtime and the Hawks’ James Gellerman scored to put his team ahead 28-22. The run to add two points came up just short. On South O’Brien’s turn with the ball, a carry for two yards was followed by an eight yard scoring pass from quarterback Justice Frerk to wide receiver Willie Conley. Needing only a conversion of any type to capture the win, Paulsen put the ball through the uprights and the home team had it’s victory in the rivalry game.
Frerk completed 8 of 14 pass attempts for 185 yards. Both Conley and Paulsen were on the receiving end of two scoring aerials. The leading ground-gainer was running back Damian Villarreal, who rushed 17 times for 51 yards.
“Offensively, our passing game worked well again,” noted South O’Brien head coach Mark Fuhrman. “We were able to make some big plays. including the overtime touchdown pass to Willie Conley. Derek Paulsen also had a great night receiving the ball.” Paulsen’s five receptions went for a total of 134 yards.
Mitchell Enger recorded eight tackles from his defensive line position, including five solo stops. For defensive back Caden Wittrock it was 6.5 tackles with three solos. Wittrock also was credited with a fumble recovery when he picked a loose ball out of the air. Paulsen came up with a pair of interceptions. The Hawks gained all but 20 of their 236 yards on the ground.
“Defensively, we were better at times,” said Furnman. “We had trouble stopping HMS’ run game Friday night. They have some big guys up front and we lost a few kids as the night wore on due to injuries.”
The Wolverines opened the scoring with a 47 yard receiving touchdown by Paulsen. The PAT kick came up short. Gellerman and the Hawks answered from eight yards out in the second quarter. South O’Brien stopped the two-point run, leaving the game tied. Later in the quarter, Frerk and Conley hooked up from 34 yards out and Villarreal’s run gave the Wolverines a 14-6 halftime lead.
The Hawks had the only score of the third quarter. Gellerman ran it in from a yard out and then ran for the tying two points. Frerk’s 33 yard pass to Paulsen and Villarreal’s two point run put South O’Brien back up 22-14. Again it was Gellerman with the tying points, coming with 3:36 remaining, and the game was headed to overtime.
South O’Brien journeys to Le Mars on October 6 to take on Gehlen Catholic for the Jays’ homecoming game. Gehlen is 2-2 in district play and 2-4 overall. The Jays are coming off a 21-20 win over Sibley-Ocheyedan. “We need to build on Friday’s game and keep improving to try and get win number two Friday at Gehlen,” said Fuhrman. “They are a good running team and we are going to have to improve our play on the edges.”