Aberdeen Central was unable to capitalize on opportunities early and Tea Area made the Golden Eagles pay for it late.

The Class 11AA second-rated Titans won their 19th straight regular season football game with a 35-0 triumph over Central at Brownell Activities Complex Saturday night.

The Eagles were unable to take advantage of three turnovers in the first half and eventually Tea Area wore down the hosts in the second half.

“There were chances we had the first half,” said Central coach Justin Briese before the Titans took over. “They play hard, they play physical and they grind a team down.”

Central recovered an on-side kick to start the game, but stalled on downs. Max Leberman then recovered a Tea Area fumble at the Titans’ 36-yard line, but the Eagles turned the ball over three plays later on an interception.

Aberdeen forced another turnover with Tayden Brownson recovering a fumble, but again, the Eagles were unable to use that momentum.

Eventually Keegan DeYoung took a pitch and bolted 85 yards yard to put Tea Area on the board early in the second quarter.

Still, the Eagles hung tough and got the ball inside the Titans’ 10 on a 51-yard pass from Dustin Hermansen to Drew Salfrank, but Central missed a field goal in the closing seconds of the half.

That’s when everything changed.

Tea Area, which had just 12 more yards than Central in the first 24 minutes, dominated the second half, racking up 191 yards while holding the Eagles to just 18.

“We didn’t play our best the first half,” said Tea Area coach Scott Frey, “but the sign of a good team is not play real well and come back and do that the second half.”

The Titans got their ground game going en route to 28 second-half points.

“I kind of put it on our offensive line at halftime and they were better than what they were the first half,” Frey said. “They got it figured out and then we moved on from there.”

In contrast, Central struggled to run the ball all night as the Titans loaded the line of scrimmage and forced the Eagles to throw the ball.

“That’s the give and take having a good backfield like we have,” Briese said. “Teams are going to key on that and are going to put plenty of guys in the box, so it forces us to try and throw the ball a little more.”

While the final stats are lopsided in Tea Area’s favor, it was pretty much a standstill in the opening half.

“That first 24 minutes I thought we did really well, said Central senior Casey Vining who finished with six tackles on the night.

Central’s lone offensive bright spot in the second half was a 42-yard kickoff return from Salfrank. But again, the Eagles could not generate any extra offense from there.

“We had that one good kick return from Salfrank and got some momentum,” Vining said. “Got to about the 40-45 and then all of sudden right then and there it went downhill, but I thought defense we played really well.”

Central opened the season against top-rated and defending 11AA state champion Pierre last week and had second-rated and state runner-up Tea Area in week two.

“We played the two best teams in the state based on whatever polls they have,” Briese said. “They are two very good teams. The way I look at it, our schedule gets a whole lot easier from here on out.”

The Eagles travel to Sturgis for a contest on Saturday.

Vining said the mood of the players is still positive despite the rough start.

“We just have to stick to the game plan,” Vining said. “Our run game, it wasn’t that great the first two games, but I know Karson Carda can do his job. These next five games, I think he can really handle these five teams.”

Tea Area 0 7 14 14 – 35

Aberdeen Central 0 0 0 0 – 0

Second Quarter

TA – Keegan DeYoung 85 run (Chase Van Tol kick), 10:32.

Third Quarter

TA – DeYoung 23 run (Van Tol kick), 8:31.

TA – Blake Thompson 4 run (Van Tol kick), 3:50.

Fourth Quarter

TA – Maddix Slykhuis 3 run (Van Tol kick), 8:25.

TA – DeYoung 5 run (Van Tol kick), 2:30.

OFFENSE: Tea Area rushing 39-234 (DeYoung 8-121, Slykhuis 10-60, Nathan Babb 5-22), passing 4-8-0 for 62 (Slykhuis 4-8-0 for 62), receiving (Blake Thompson 2-26, Van Tol 1-19, Parker Mulder 1-17), first downs 12; Aberdeen Central rushing 34-3 (Karson Carda 22-18, Austin Erickson 3-10), passing 6-18-2 for 108 (Dustin Hermansen 6-18-2 for 108), receiving (Drew Salfrank 4-81, Erickson 1-17, Spencer Barr 1-10), first downs 9.

DEFENSE: Tea Area, Jackson Smythe 10 tackles, Reis Kirschenman 8 tackles, Van Tol 8 tackles, Griffen Schnider 7 tackles including 3 sacks, Jessen Wiebenga 6 tackles and 1 interception,; Aberdeen Central, Tayden Brownson 10 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, Brian Johnson 6 tackles, Casey Vining 6 tackles.