From a crushing defeat one week to an exhilarating victory the next.

Aberdeen Central celebrated homecoming in the best way possible with a complete performance on offense, defense, and special teams in a 14-6 non-conference football win over third-rated Spearfish Friday night at Brownell Activities Complex.

The win comes on the heels of a loss in the closing seconds to Brookings last week. The Golden Eagles banded together and responded with their best effort of the season against the undefeated Spartans.

“It’s ups and downs. The lows you stick together, the highs you stick together,” said Central junior Jack Bertsch. “We’re a family out here and we’re going to do it all together.”

Central received quality play from quarterback Braylon Bowman, who took over the starting position after Brenner Waldrop was injured last week. The junior threw for 128 yards and a 72-yard touchdown to Colby Dauwen to guide the Eagles offense.

“Like I told the guys, that was a team effort. Offense, defense did their job. We stepped up where we needed to,” said Central coach Justin Briese. “Bowman coming in, a lot of people wondering who is this guy, he throws a touchdown pass. He did what he needed to do to win the game. He did a really good job for us.”

The Golden Eagles didn’t need much offense with the way the defense and special teams performed.

“Everybody had to do their job,” Bertsch said. “That’s what we preach in practice, everyone does their job and everything will come together, and that’s what we did.”

Bertsch spent plenty of time bringing traffic to a stop as the Spartans struggled to move the ball on the ground.

“We have a big dog, Felipe Gonzalez. He gets his job done and it makes my job so much easier,” Bertsch said. “And then we got those outside linebackers do their job, makes my life easier. Everything comes together with us. I mean we’re figuring it out now.”

That defensive effort included a key stand in the fourth quarter when Spearfish drove to the Central 5-yard line before being stopped on downs.

“Defense is still playing solid. Coach (Kurt) Holinka does a great job getting the boys going and finding ways that we can win the game,” Briese said. “We work on all of our twists and movements, and it confuses the offensive linemen and gets us home where we need to be.”

Perhaps the biggest factor in the game was special teams. Central blocked an extra-point attempt on Spearfish’s lone touchdown in the second quarter, and then blocked a punt in the fourth quarter to give the offense the ball on the Spartans’ 9-yard line. Joey Dallman scored on the very next play to give the Eagles a two-possession lead.

“I wasn’t going down, that’s for sure,” Dallman said of his run into the end zone.

The junior was not going to be denied on the play, following the big momentum gained from the blocked punt.

“We just had to execute and that’s what we did,” Dallman said. “Offensive linemen did their jobs. They made a hole for me. I just had to run through a guy and that’s what I did.”

Running through people has become Dallman’s calling card with his physical runs this season.

“He’s been running the rock all year,” Bertsch said. “If you think you’re bringing him down, you better bring three.”

Those special teams plays ended up leading indirectly to a eight-point swing and that was the difference in the final outcome.

“It is huge and we put a lot of emphasis on that,” Briese said of special teams. “We spend time every single day working on those skills that we need to be good at those things, and it always pays off in the end.”

As a result, Central was able to celebrate in front of a large and loud crowd following the vicory.

“This crowd, we want this every game and we got to win to do that,” Bertsch said.

Central will head on to road for games at Sturgis next week and Mitchell the following week, and the Golden Eagles will take a busload of confidence and momentum with them.

“This is huge, we needed this win for motivation,” Dallman said. “We just got to keep on rolling.”

Spearfish (3-1) 0 6 0 0 – 6

Aberdeen Central (1-3) 0 7 0 7 – 14

Second Quarter

S – Dylon Doren 28 pass from Thomas Hughes (kick blocked), 5:56.

AC – Colby Dauwen 72 pass from Braylon Bowman (Bowman kick), 4:30.

Fourth Quarter

AC – Joey Dallman 9 run (Bowman kick), 8:49.

OFFENSE: Spearfish, rushing, 27-149 (Hughes 6-82, Hunter Walters 8-30), passing 6-12-1 for 65 (Hughes 6-12-1 for 65), receiving (Evan Wilson 2-31, Doren 1-28, Kade Vavruska 3-6), first downs 8; Aberdeen Central, rushing 35-91 (Dallman 9-55, Ridley Waldo 15-36), passing 11-13-0 for 131 (Bowman 9-11-0 for 128, Dauwen 2-2-0 for 3), receiving (Dauwen 3-73, Karson Borge 1-30, Dallman 2-18, Brody Aesoph 4-10), first downs 10.

DEFENSE: Spearfish, Aiden Kracht  6 tackles, Laythan Lucas 4 tackles; Aberdeen Central, Jack Bertsch 5 tackles, Felipe Gonzalez 4 tackles, Brandon Schwan 4 tackles.