When Hamlin and Parkston met in the Class 11B state championship game in 1991, the Chargers claimed their third consecutive state title with a 38-6 win. Fast forward to this season and both squads will face off again in the Class 9AA semifinals for a trip to the state championship game, which will take place Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the DakotaDome in Vermillion.
Hamlin coach Jeff Sheehan said it has taken most of the year to get the team back to full health in time for a playoff run.
“We knew we were going to have a pretty good team this year. We had a lot of returners from last year’s team that went to the semifinals against Wall,” Sheehan said. “We’re finally starting to get healthy, (and) that’s the best part. Our first game we had everybody was the Bon Homme first round playoff (game), so getting healthy was important, and we’ve been there.”
The Chargers have relied on a balanced offensive attack throughout the season, something Sheehan says has been a goal all season.
“Offensively, we’ve really stressed trying to keep it 50/50 with the pass-run,” Sheehan said. “It doesn’t always happen, but we stress that. We spread the ball around so it’s not just one guy, so defenses can’t just key on one or two guys. We’ve got about four or five (guys) that we like to have them be able to key on.”
The defensive philosophy has been a “stop the run first” approach, forcing teams to throw the ball, which moves opponents out of their comfort zone.
“Defensively, our goal is stop the run, make teams pass,” Sheehan said. “This week that’ll be a challenge with Parkston. They’re a dominant football team; they have been for the last few years. The double wing is always hard to stop, but our goal is always trying to stop the run and defend the pass when it presents itself.”
Hamlin has been led by host of players, including senior quarterback/defensive back Tyson Stevenson, junior wide receiver Evan Stormo, and junior Zac VanMeeteren, a 6-foot-6 do-it-all player that plays multiple positions for the Chargers, including tight end, wide receiver, wingback, and defensive end. The Chargers recently welcomed the return of senior running back Luke Fraser, who was out for much of the season with an injury, and returned for the playoff game against Bon Homme, although his status for Friday is uncertain after a minor injury against Wall.
The team had to learn a lot from last season’s 26-13 setback in the semifinals to the Eagles, including being the best they can be at all times.
“You got to be on your best football all the time,” Sheehan said. “Last year out at Wall we had a few turnovers and shot ourselves in the foot with penalties, and our kids have been working on trying not to do that this year.”
Hamlin has one loss this season, a 22-13 setback to Warner, and Sheehan says that game mirrored the semifinal loss from a year ago.
“We did a lot of the same things we did down at Wall where we shot ourselves in the foot,” Sheehan said. “We had three turnovers, and they scored on two of the three turnovers we had in the first half.”
Sheehan is familiar with deep postseason runs at Hamlin. He led the Chargers to back-to-back Class 9B state championship appearances in 2013 and 2014, winning the state title over Faulkton in 2014. He also led the Chargers to a runner-up appearance in 2020, losing 42-12 to Platte-Geddes. Sheehan has also led several Hamlin teams to deep playoff runs that fell short of reaching the state title game. He noted that he and the coaching staff have gained plenty of experience through the years, which has helped the team this season.
“I’ve been fortunate enough that one of my assistant coaches (Timm MacDonell) has been with me now for (nine or ten) of those years. He’s our defensive coordinator, so he and I have a good connection,” Sheehan said. “Another assistant coach (Riley Miller) was a player of mine. He played in 2013 and ’14, so he has the state championship experience (with Dell Rapids), so he knows what it takes to get here from a player’s aspect of it.”
The Hamlin seniors also have something they want to prove, as they were freshman when the Chargers lost to Platte-Geddes, another Class 9AA semifinalist this season, in the title game three years ago.
“They have the drive to want to get back there. They know what it was like to be there three years ago and they’re all seniors now and their goal is to win a state title,” Sheehan said. “They’re putting in the time and effort, and they’re doing the little things to help the younger guys out that haven’t been there before to let them know that this is something that you want to be a part of. They keep working hard and doing their thing.”
When looking at the Chargers semifinal opponent, Sheehan said Parkston has “all the pieces to be a really, really good football team,” and he sees an opponent that also has plenty of experience.
“When you look at teams that win in the Dome, they usually have a lot of seniors and juniors on the team, and they have 10 or 11 seniors on their team and they all do a lot of good things,” Sheehan said.
Parkston has earned playoff wins over Viborg-Hurley and Hanson, outscoring the two opponents 70-0, and Sheehan said the Trojans are stout on both sides of the ball.
“They’re very good at what they do offensively. They stick with it. They don’t go away from something if you happen to stop them on a play or two. They’ll come back to it. They’ll adjust and do what they have to do,” Sheehan said. “Defensively they’re going to run what they run and you’ve got to do everything you can to beat them. They’ve only given up 20 this year, so they’re doing something really good.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday in Parkston, and Sheehan knows that his team will need to run its gameplan to perfection to pull the upset.
“We’ve got to sustain drives. We’ve got to keep the ball out of their hands because they can score at any given time on the field,” Sheehan said. “We’ve just got to find a way to put the ball in the end zone because not many teams have this year.”
