They have been in this position before, and the response is always the same.

When the Cavaliers of Aberdeen Roncalli face adversity, they rise to the challenge at the next opportunity.

The Cavaliers displayed their usual steely resolve once again Friday night in an 18-7 win over Milbank in Northeast Conference football action at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

After a heartbreaking double-overtime loss last week, the Cavaliers hit the field on a mission.

“I told our guys before the game, especially our seniors, that every time they’ve ever had a setback, they’ve always responded and came back stronger the next week,” said Roncalli coach Billy Young. “You go back to last year, after the STM game, we went on that run, earlier this year when Clark beat us, and you could even go back to when they freshmen, they just have character and there’s just something about them. They don’t quit and they never think they’re out of it.”

So when Roncalli was able to contain a solid Class 11A foe, Young was not one bit surprised.

“I didn’t know what the final score would be,” Young said, “but I knew that we could come out and play well.”

Like they do in all of their games, the Cavaliers relied on their defense against the Bulldogs, shutting down Milbank’s dangerous passing attack.

“We planned for it all week. We watched the Vermillion game since Vermillion was spread most of the time. We based it off of that, our game plan,” said Roncalli sophomore linebacker Jean Anthony Thomas. “We changed a few things up on the line. We needed to contain the quarterback pretty well.”

Roncalli did just that, allowing only a couple of big plays the entire night.

Thomas said the key is staying disciplined on defense.

“Just play the guy who you have, do your job, everyone else on the team does their job, everyone has everybody else’s back,” Thomas said. “So it all works out in the end.”

The Cavaliers scored the only points of the first half when Aiden Fisher spotted James Behan all by himself for a 27-yard touchdown pass.

“That’s a good play call. He always has the wheel route,” Behan said. “We run it a lot and it’s pretty good. When people bite, it’s open.”

Roncalli extended its lead to 12-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Zane Backous threw a halfback option pass to Fisher who ran in for a 21-yard score.

After Milbank sliced the deficit to 12-7 on a 39-yard pass from Brayden Bowsher to Sam Rick with 8:27 remaining, the Cavaliers put together a 14-play drive that ended with a 6-yard TD pass when Fisher spotted Behan in the back corner of the end zone with 1:51 left.

“I still don’t know what happened on that. I couldn’t see it,” Young said. “I thought he threw it out of bounds and everybody is waving touchdown. I’m like what happened?”

Behan, who joked, “I’m practicing for the NFL, getting both feet in,” noticed that Fisher was scrambling and found a spot in the corner of the end zone.

“I had a slant route,” Behan said, “but then I noticed he’s spinning out, so I was like, I just got to go out with it.”

The Cavaliers featured a balanced attack on offense as Brody Weinmeister rushed for 72 yards, Fisher ran for 60, Backous finished with 59, and Behan had 63 yards receiving.

“We didn’t come into the game thinking we were just going to feed it to one guy,” Young said, “so take whatever was there and that’s kind of how it unfolded.”

In the end, it was a typical bounce-back performance for a team that has grown accustomed to doing it.

“It was really important. We were always ready to come back. We bounced back after Clark earlier this season, and we were ready to do it again,” Thomas said. “That’s just how this team is. We like to fight. That’s Roncalli football.”

The win was a big one for the Cavaliers who are trying to gain as many seed points as possible for the upcoming playoffs.

“It’s just work our butts off, that’s all,” Behan said. “Get every win we can, get as many points as we can, get those power rankings, get the best placement points we can.”

Roncalli, 5-2 on the season, is scheduled to play at Sisseton next week.

Young said he doesn’t pay much attention to power points until the season comes to an end.

“This was just the one we needed to get. We can only control what’s in front of us,” Young said. “The only thing we can control was winning this game, and whatever happens with the power points happens.”

The Cavaliers definitely helped their cause with the win over Milbank.

“I’m just proud of our guys tonight, how they put last week behind them,” Young said. “Hopefully, we can just get some momentum and keep rolling into the playoffs.”

Milbank (3-4) 0 0 0 7 – 7

Aberdeen Roncalli (5-2) 6 0 12 – 18

First Quarter

AR – James Behan 27 pass from Aiden Fisher, 6:13.

Fourth Quarter

AR – Fisher 21 pass from Zane Backous, 11:52.

M – Sam Rick 39 pass from Braylen Bowser (Moises Nuna kick), 8:27.

AR – Behan 6 pass from Fisher, 1:51.

OFFENSE: Milbank, rushing 29-62 (Bowsher 20-36, Tate Schlueter 7-21), passing 8-17-1 for 98 (Bowsher  8-17-1 for 98), receiving (Rick 5-80, Emmett Hanson 1-24), first downs 13; Aberdeen Roncalli, rushing 38-191 (Brody Weinmeister 10-72, Fisher 14-60, Backous 14-59), passing 12-18-1 for 93 (Fisher 11-17-1 for 72, Backous 1-1-0 for 21), receiving (Behan 7-63, Fisher 1-21, Weinmeister 2-15), first downs 16.

DEFENSE: Milbank, Hanson 11 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, Schlueter 5 tackles and 1 interception, Rick 4 tackles, Bennett Hunt 4 tackles; Aberdeen Roncalli, Noah Kramer 5 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception, Jean Anthony Thomas 4 tackles, Weinmeister 4 tackles and 1 sack, Backous 3 tackles and 2 sacks.