Your Prep Sports

WELLMAN – In his first season leading the Regina football program first-year head coach Dustin Elsbury made sure his team knew the importance of all three phases of the game.

Offense, defense and special teams.

On Friday the Regals needed all three to move to 2-0.

Savion Miller rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns, set up one of those scores with a long kickoff return and Regina locked down defensively late in a 28-17 win over Mid-Prairie on Friday in a meeting of River Valley Conference rivals in Wellman.

“This year a big emphasis was putting together all three phases of the game,” Elsbury said. “The past couple of years we’ve felt like we put a big emphasis on offense and defense but not on special teams. This year we’ve put a big emphasis on special teams and it’s paying off for us.”

Regina saw a 14-3 lead shrink to 14-11 but Miller gave the Regals a short field with a kickoff return to the Golden Hawk 35 yard line.

The sophomore scored his second touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run that gave Regina a 21-11 lead that would never be threatened as the Regals improved to 2-0 with its second straight win over an RVC opponent.

Kyle Tracy threw for 63 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 56 yards and a score as Regina started 2-0 for the second consecutive season.

“Our guys are definitely battled tested,” Elsbury said. “I think it goes to show with them coming together over the summer in the weight room and buying in to what we are building and believing in themselves.”

Regina overcame an offensive pass interference penalty to take control with a touchdown on its opening drive of the game.

Miller ran 18 yards on a direct snap on the first play following the penalty and Tracy hit sophomore tight end Tate Wallace for four yards on a fourth-and-three play to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Miller.

“They believe that they can pick up a first down at any time,” Elsbury said. “They really rallied around each other. Hats off to my assistant coaches, I’m lucky to have great assistant coaches on offense, defense and special teams and so it’s nice when I can put my full trust in them for them to come up with big calls.”

Mid-Prairie cut the lead to 7-3 on a field goal but Regina responded with a 2-yard touchdown run by Tracy that was set up by a pair of long Miller runs.

Mid-Prairie made things interesting in the third quarter when a 64-yard pass from Brady Weber to Cobi Hershberger set up a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Weber.

The two-point conversion pass from Weber to Hershberger cut the lead to 14-11.

Miller returned the ensuing kickoff to the Golden Hawk 35 yard line and converted a pair of fourth downs on the drive including another pass to Wallace that converted a fourth-and-12.

“I can’t give enough credit to our special teams coach Matt Hills,” Elsbury said. “He does a phenomenal job with these kids and they love playing for him. We set up the return, we saw something on film where we could take it that way and we had great blocks and Savion saw a seam and hit it and that was a big turning point.”

Leading 21-11 the Regina defense held Mid-Prairie scoreless until the final three minutes.

“We can definitely improve and get better and I think our kids know that,” Elsbury said. “When we needed to stop the run our kids came up big, when we needed to put pressure on the quarterback we did that. We talk about all 11 having relentless pursuit and even when we gave up a big play we were ready to reload and respond and come up with a stop when we needed it.”

Regina finished with 220 rushing yards as senior Will Aitchison added 56 yards on the ground.

Wallace caught three passes for 25 yards and Miller had three receptions for 24 yards.

Drew Greve caught a 2-yard touchdown pass for Regina.

Regina will host Mediapolis (1-1) next Friday at 7 p.m. in its home opener

Regina                        7  7  0  14  –  28

Mid-Prairie             0  3  8   6   –  17

ICR – Savion Miller 1 run (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)

M-P – Kale Miller 23 field goal

ICR – Kyle Tracy 2 run (Hegelheimer kick)

M-P – Brady Weber 1 run (Cobi Hershberger pass from Weber)

ICR – Savion Miller 9 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Drew Greve 2 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)

M-P – Kaden Kos 5 pass from Weber (Kick failed)

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