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The Avon Pirates hosted Sioux Falls Lutheran on Thursday, October 30, and came away with an impressive 62–30 victory to advance to the Class 9B semifinals. The Pirates started off slow, fumbling early and allowing Sioux Falls Lutheran to strike first with an 8–0 lead. Avon answered quickly as Cale Cooper punched in a 2-yard touchdown run and Trent Soukup followed with the twopoint conversion to tie it at 8–8. Sioux Falls Lutheran responded with another touchdown and conversion to end the first quarter ahead, 16–8. The second quarter belonged to the Pirates. Cooper added another score with a 13-yard run, cutting the deficit to 16–14. Weston Bierema powered in from the 1-yard line, and Soukup’s conversion gave Avon its first lead of the night at 22–16. Al’Shamon Gunter then hauled in a 34-yard pass from Quarterback Easton Sees, and Sees ran in the twopoint conversion to extend the lead to 30–16. Sioux Falls Lutheran managed one more touchdown before halftime, with Avon leading 30–22. The Pirates’ offense kept rolling in the second half. Bierema scored on a 2-yard run and Soukup added the conversion, followed by another Cooper touchdown from the 1-yard line and a conversion run by Grayson Ratzlaff, pushing the lead to 46–22 entering the fourth quarter. Avon continued its domination in the final quarter. Bierema added a 10-yard touchdown run with Cooper converting, and Ratzlaff capped off the scoring with a 4-yard run and another conversion by Cooper. Sioux Falls Lutheran found the end zone one last time with a 30-yard pass, but it wasn’t enough as the Pirates sealed the 62–30 win. Cooper led the rushing attack with 140 yards and three touchdowns, while Soukup added 86 yards, Bierema 38 yards and three touchdowns, and Ratzlaff 10 yards and one touchdown. Sees contributed 20 rushing yards and a 34- yard passing touchdown. Defensively, Braylon Fathke led with five tackles, three assists, and a sack. Gunter added four tackles, an assist, and a sack. Ratzlaff also tallied four tackles, while Bierema recorded two tackles and two assists. Additional contributions came from Cooper (two tackles), Soukup (one tackle, one assist), Sees (one tackle, two assists), Randall Powers (one tackle, three assists), Treyvan Talsma (one assist), and Dominic Doom (three assists).