It came down to a pair of field goals on Friday night.

Watertown capitalized on a late third-quarter field goal to edge Aberdeen Central 16-14 in an Eastern South Dakota Conference football game at Brownell Activities Complex.

The Golden Eagles drove the ball down the field in the final minute of the game to set up a field goal of their own. However, the 29-yard attempt sailed wide right, preserving an Arrows win.

“It just didn’t come off his foot right,” Central coach Justin Briese said of the kick. “Everyone’s going to look at it and say man we should’ve made that field goal to win the game. Well, we should’ve done five other things, ten other things before that to win the game.”

Although the game did not end in the Golden Eagles favor, it did begin in their favor. Central struck first with an 81-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brenner Waldrop to Cooper Eisenbeisz, putting the Golden Eagles up 7-0 with 8:36 left in the opening quarter.

Waldrop, who started his first varsity game in place of the injured Parker Lemer, described the first pass of his varsity career.

“I saw that the DB was so far off Cooper that the out was going to be right there,” Waldrop said. “I didn’t throw a great ball. It was inside, but he made a great play on it and took it to the house.”

Waldrop, a 6-foot-4 freshman, was thankful for the opportunity to play in his first varsity game.

“I just want to give all the glory to God, man. Without Him, none of this is possible,” Waldrop said. “It was an awesome experience. I’m just so blessed with this opportunity and can’t wait for many more games to come.”

Watertown answered the Central score with a score of its own as Arrow running back Juven Hudson scampered in from 10-yards out. However, the extra point was blocked and the Golden Eagles continued to lead 7-6.

Both teams were seeking to establish the running game throughout the night as the teams leaned heavily on their offensive lines to open up lanes for their backs. Briese said he was expecting the game to be a physical one.

“Coming into the game, we knew that’s what it was going to be,” Briese said. “We wanted to run the ball. They wanted to run the ball. We got that going in the first half, and then they kind of made some adjustments in the second half and we weren’t able to be quite as effective as we were in the first half, but we were still able to move the ball.”

Waldrop was glad to see the team move the ball on the ground.

“The offensive line, they were bruising,” Waldrop said. “They were getting after those guys up front and we were moving the ball, but we just couldn’t capitalize when it matters.”

Central added a rushing touchdown early in the second quarter as Avery Ligon plunged into the end zone from 2-yards out, extending the Golden Eagle lead to 14-6. The Arrows would answer as Treyton Himmerich tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Mitch Olson, who made an exciting one-handed grab in the corner of the end zone, bringing Watertown back within one at the break.

In the second half, both defenses dug in and made offensive production difficult throughout the remainder of the game. Despite giving up a few big plays, Briese was pleased with how his defense performed.

“They played well. They had a couple of big plays, which, you know what, is going to happen in a game,” Briese said. “But other than that, our defense played solid.”

Central’s defense even produced a goal-line stand late in the third quarter, which resulted in the Arrows’ 21-yard field goal by Kohen Kranz with 47 seconds left in the quarter.

Even though the Golden Eagles gave up the field goal, Briese felt the stand gave his team a chance at the end.

“We had a goal-line stand, forced a field goal, kept them out of the end zone,” Briese said. “That was huge, and that kept us in the game. It gave us an opportunity for that field goal at the end, but it just came up short.”

Waldrop finished his varsity debut with 123 yards passing and the lone touchdown pass. Briese was pleased with the play of his young quarterback.

“Brenner did a great job coming in,” Briese said. “As a freshman coming in here, big situation, needing a big win. Not bad for a freshman coming in and being caught in a pretty tough game.”

Ligon led the Golden Eagle rushing attack with 136 yards on 28 carries and a touchdown. Eisenbeisz led with 117 receiving yards.

Waldrop said the key will be focusing on the team’s weaknesses heading into next week.

“I just think just let this one sting, and just work on our weaknesses this week and just get ready for next week,” Waldrop said.

Central (3-3) will travel to Brookings on Friday and Briese said the team will look to fix the small things in preparation for next week’s game.

“It’s not anything big. It’s always just one little thing here, one little thing there,” Briese said. “We’re not going to revamp anything. We’re not going crazy and trying to redo everything we do offensively or defensively. It’s just a matter of us adjusting and saying, hey we need to do this better or this better or whatever it is.”

Watertown (4-2) 6 7 3 0 – 16

Aberdeen Central (3-3) 7 7 0 0 – 14

First Quarter

AC – Cooper Eisenbeisz 81 pass from Brenner Waldrop (Joey Dallman kick), 8:36

W – Juven Hudson 10 run (kick blocked), 5:19

Second Quarter

AC – Avery Ligon 2 run (Dallman kick), 10:23

W – Mitch Olson 19 pass from Treyton Himmerich (Kohen Kranz kick), 4:45

Third Quarter

W – Kranz 21-yard field goal, :47

OFFENSE: Watertown, rushing 31-107 (Juven Hudson 19-64, Spencer Wientjes 6-50); passing 3-12-0 for 47 (Treyton Himmerich 3-12-0 for 47); receiving (Colton Vlasman 2-28, Mitch Olson 1-19); Aberdeen Central, rushing 38-154 (Avery Ligon 28-136, Austin Erickson 7-15); passing 5-12-0 for 141 (Brenner Waldrop 3-10-0 for 123), receiving (Cooper Eisenbiesz 3-117).

DEFENSE: Aberdeen Central, Erickson sack, Brandon Schwan sack, Cordel Rychlik tackle for loss, Tate Huff tackle for loss.