Top-seeded Lower Brule defends championship with victory over second-seeded Wambdi

VERMILLION — Top-seeded Lower Brule spoiled Tiospa Zina's bid for an All Nations Football Conference Class 9B championship for the second-straight year on Saturday in the DakotaDome.

The Sioux (8-1) defended their championship with a 42-0 win over the second-seeded Wambdi (7-2).

Lane Gray passed for 218 yards and three touchdowns, connecting with Marley Carpenter (5 and 25 yards) and Quentin McBride (49 yards) on scoring passes.

Cory Big Eagle rushed for 114 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown for Lower Brule, which also scored on a 23-yard run by Isaiah Felicia and a 5-yard fumble return by Elliot LaRoche.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Sioux got on the board with 3:31 left in the half and added a second touchdown with only three seconds remaining.

LaRoche's fumble return opened the scoring in the second half and the Sioux added three more touchdowns in the third quarter to go up 42-0 and start the running clock.

Tiospa Zina drove deep into Lower Brule territory on the final possession of the game before being stopped on downs.

Gray (offense) and Lower Brule's Ethan Johnson (defense) were named the MVPs of the game. Big Eagle won the Jim Thorpe MVP Award. Carpenter finished with 101 yards receiving.

William Fire Cloud and Gray each intercepted passes and Nicolas Flute recovered a fumble for Lower Brule.

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Thomas Anderson and Eddie Rousseau had interceptions and Johnny Rivers a fumble recovery for the Wambdi, who were playing in their fourth-straight All Nations Conference championship game.

The Wambdi were limited to 39 yards of offense (all rushing) in the first half and finished with 152 (120 rushing, 32 passing).

Tiospa Zina won the ANC championship in the spring of 2021 (postponed season from fall of 2020) and after the league was split into two divisions, the Wambdi won the Class 9B title in the fall of 2021 before falling to Lower Brule in each of the past two Class 9B championships.

In the ANC Class 9A championship on Saturday, top-seeded Todd County (9-0) repeated as the champion with a 28-13 win over third-seeded Winnebago (Neb.).

Chris Ellert completed five passes for 86 yards, but four of them went for touchdowns for Todd County. Walkinyan Sa Selwyn caught two TD passes and Ty Valandra rushed for 156 yards.

2022 All Nations Conference Team: Five Wambdi, three Mustangs named to all-conference football team; four honorable mentions

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: All Nations Conference football championships held in the DakotaDome