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High School Football Playoff Games In Four Classes Tonight; One Contender Dealing With Tragic Loss

Dan Aaker
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Winner High School

Twelve more games are on the schedule for State High School Football Playoffs tonight (Monday).  One of the most highly-regarded teams in Class 11-B will play this evening without a teammate.  South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Gary Ellenbolt looks at how players and coaches deal with a tragic loss off the field.

Last month, SDPB photographer Andrew Bork and I spent a day in Winner, covering the Warriors football team for a piece called “Warrior Gameday.”  One member of that squad was number 66, Taylor Watzel. 

Credit Andrew Bork / South Dakota Public Broadcasting
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South Dakota Public Broadcasting
Taylor Watzel (66) prepares to take the field in a September 23rd, 2016 game against Chamberlain.

The young man died in a farm accident nearly two weeks ago.  That’s difficult for anyone to comprehend—let alone teenage boys who knew Taylor, practically from birth.  Like his players, Winner Head Coach Dan Aaker is devastated by the student’s death—he says while he and his team mourn Watzel’s loss, there’s a sense of healing in the practices and games that go on.

“The one thing we’ve got going for us is—we have 50 other brothers that we can lean on, and be there for, and everybody’s going through the same thing.  So, I think we need to use that strength and I think, probably, it made us a little tighter, too.”

Taylor Watzel’s funeral was a week ago in Winner.  Two nights later, the Warriors defeated Parkston in a first-round 11-B playoff game.  Tonight brings a familiar opponent to Winner—the Tri-Valley Mustangs.

“We’ve played ‘em four times—three of them in a state championship game, and the other was a second-round playoff game three years ago.  So we’ve played ‘em four times in the past six years, all in the playoffs.  The first three, essentially, came down to the last play, and the last year, you know, we got them pretty good in the state championship—but, they’re a formidable program, and you can tell that right away.” 

Aaker says the team wears a special helmet logo in Taylor Watzel’s memory—the sticker contains his number 66, with wings on either side.  The Warriors or Mustangs will advance to a semi-final game Saturday, against Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan or Sioux Valley.  For South Dakota Public Broadcasting, I’m Gary Ellenbolt.