Two goals accomplished, unfinished business still ahead.

Fourth-rated Aberdeen Roncalli capped a perfect regular season by defeating Clark-Willow Lake 26-0 and secured the Northeast Conference football championship outright Thursday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium. It is Roncalli’s first NEC title since 2015.

“Those are great and those are two of the goals that we had,” said Roncalli coach Billy Young, “but we want to be around. We want to keep playing for four more weeks. And we know that it’s only going to get tougher from here and now everybody is good, and every step is only going to get more difficult.”

Ever since the Cavaliers lost in overtime in last year’s post season, they have been determined to return to the playoffs and change things this time around. They will take some momentum into the next week’s playoffs after another strong defensive effort.

Roncalli recorded its fourth shutout of the season and has not allowed more than one touchdown in any game so far this year.

“We are really, really disciplined,” said junior Josh Schaunaman, who had six tackles against Clark-Willow Lake. “We stay our gaps and when we see that ball, we hit them and try to take them down with one guy.”

The Cyclones got a few yards early in the contest, but soon the Cavaliers took control of the line of scrimmage.

“We wore them down. They were definitely less energetic even after the first quarter,” Schaunaman said. “We figured out their runs and formations and stuff, and were just able to hit the gaps and make plays.”

Meanwhile, the Roncalli offense got off to a slow start and was held scoreless in the opening quarter. However, after a few adjustments, the Cavaliers produced a pair of second-period touchdowns: one on a short run by Maddox Max, and another on an 4-yard pass from Jackson Isakson to Zane Backous.

“We knew they were going to be a good team. They gave us a lot of trouble when we were on offense,” Young said of the Cyclones’ defense. “Their linebackers were scraping and peeling really hard and getting to the ball and making it hard to run between the tackles.”

With the defense concentrated on the middle, Roncalli found other ways to move the chains.

“We were able to make some adjustments the second quarter,” Young said. “It took a little while to get used to those adjustments, but once we did, things started to click and we were able to move the ball.”

One of the plays that worked was a misdirection play to Andrew Brennan. The senior was able to get out in space and wreck havoc. He finished with 30 yards rushing and 32 yards receiving.

“I love it,” Brennan said. “Open field – it’s the best.”

Brennan, who scored a fourth-quarter touchdown, was the recipient of some solid blocking, including a big block from Backous on a 32-yard pass play.

“It’s super nice when you’ve got guys like Zane that can block for you,” Brennan said. “It’s pretty easy on my part to just run into the end zone.”

Young said it’s a luxury to have a solid defense that allows for the offense to find its footing like it did against the Cyclones.

“A great thing is, our defense plays so well that we can afford to experiment offensively until things start to work,” he said.

Once again, the Cavaliers forced multiple turnovers. That not only prevents opponents from getting any momentum, it often allows the offense to play on a short field.

“We do a lot of fumble strip in practice,” Schaunaman said, “and just stuff to get us prepared for that.”

Isakson, who added a third-quarter 14-yard TD run, finished with 88 yards passing and 48 yards rushing, May led the balanced attack with 49 yards on the ground.

Backous had nine tackles and forced a fumble, while Kaden Clark added six tackles and recovered a fumble.

Roncalli, 8-0, will now wait to see who its first-round playoff opponent will be on Thursday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium. The Cavaliers will have the home-field advantage for as far as they can advance up to the title game which is at the DakotaDome in Vermillion.

Brennan knows the road will get tougher, but believes the Cavaliers will be up to the challenge.

“We know that we’re going to be playing tougher teams than we have in the regular season,” Brennan said. “There’s some good teams out there in the state, so I think we’re ready for anything and I think we can compete with anybody.”

Clark-Willow Lake (4-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Roncalli (8-0) 0 12 7 7 – 26

Second Quarter

AR – Maddox May 1 run, 2:29.

AR – Zane Backous 8 pass from Jackson Isakson, :36.

Third Quarter

AR – Isakson 14 run (Isakson kick), :00

Fourth Quarter

AR- Andrew Brennan 8 run (Isakson kick), 5:29.

OFFENSE: Clark-Willow Lake rushing 39-91 (Griffin Musser 10-62, Tyson Huber 7-26), passing 1-3-1 for 4 (Mitchell Larson 1-3-1 for 4), first downs 6; Aberdeen Roncalli rushing 41-187 (May 11-49, Isakson 9-48, Abe Kretchman 8-33, Brennan 3-30, Phillip Zens 4-17), passing 7-16-0 for 88 (Isakson 7-16-0 for 88), receiving (Kretchman 2-32, Brennan 1-32), first downs 16.

DEFENSE: Clark-Willow Lake, Elliot Bratland 8 tackles, Huber 7 tackles, Chase Chambers 4 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, Cole Heiman 4 tackles, Larson 4 tackles; Aberdeen Roncalli, Backous 9 tackles and 1 forced fumble, Kaden Clark 6 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, Josh Schaunaman 6 tackles, May 5 tackles, Zens 4 tackles.