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Blue Hawks' bold 2-point gamble falls short in thrilling 20-19 road loss to RMC

gaylon wm. parker, the dickinson press, n.d.
·6 min read

Aug. 28—BILLINGS, Mont. — A team's confidence can be electrically infectious, and the Dickinson State University Blue Hawks were "feeling it" on a final drive that scored the potential game-winning or game-tying score with 8 seconds remaining in the game. DSU head coach Pete Stanton decided to go for 2 after the touchdown instead of kicking the extra point to send the game into overtime, but the team gets an "A" for effort despite a 20-19 loss on the road to Rocky Mountain College.

"We'd kind of decided at the beginning of that drive that we were going to go for 2; our offense had good momentum and we wanted to take a shot," Stanton said. "Our defense had been on the field for a long time during the game and we just liked our chances and it didn't work out and it's just one of those things."

It was the first time the Blue Hawks faced the Battlin' Bears since 2019, ironically enough, and that matchup was once a consistent fixture in the Blue Hawks schedule, and the history of the matchup has mostly gone in Rocky Mountain's favor. RMC upended DSU in the most-recent meeting on a last-minute field goal that resulted in a 23-21 loss for the Blue Hawks, who also lost the previous meeting the year before 21-10. DSU last won in the 2017-18 season, 43-28, but the previous seven meetings before that resulted in a 1-6 record for Dickinson State from 2009-2016.

The season-opener featured a ton of positive signs for the Blue Hawks, which saw starting quarterback throw for 24-of-37 with 251 yards and 3 TDs, while throwing one interception, and a massive 165-yard receiving total for Dickinson native Noah Sickler, who also reeled in the first and last touchdowns of the game for DSU, while the pass that sailed high was intended for him, as well.

DSU built a 13-0 lead in the first quarter on the 40-yard pass to Sickler from Madler with less than 4 minutes gone in the game, but Chase Madler's extra-point kick failed and kept the score 6-0. That kick proved to be crucial, as Galen Brantley III caught a 14-yard pass from Madler at the 8:14 mark in the first quarter to build a quick, 13-0 lead.

But the second quarter proved disastrous, as the Battlin' Bears scored 13 unanswered points to tie the game, as the teams headed into the locker rooms, and then added 7 more at the 8:20 mark in the third quarter to extend their lead to 20-13. But DSU did hold the Battlin' Bears out of the end zone and forced a field goal that kept the score close, and that was critically important to keeping the Blue Hawks in the ballgame.

"We just didn't have a very good second quarter, we had good momentum and were up 13-0 and we just made a couple of mistakes," Stanton said. "We had a chance to go up 20-0 and had a couple of turnovers in there, then at the same time we had a special-teams miscue with a 10-yard punt and that got them right back in it."

But the Blue Hawks kept "battlin'" back against RMC, and had a solid fourth quarter that saw the defense hold Rocky at their 41-yard-line midway through the quarter on a defensive stop and then held the Battlin' Bears without a first down on the next series and forced them to punt, leading to the DSU drive that almost produced a thrilling win for the Blue Hawks.

The Blue Hawks' 3 turnovers put the brakes on a few promising drives, but Braden Zuroff led the way in rushing with 49 yards on 9 attempts, and Madler rushed for 20 of his one on 11 attempts, while fellow Dickinson native Kaden Kuntz followed up Sickler's performance with 5 receptions for 38 yards.

Dickinson State held the advantage in total yardage with 356 to RMC's 335, while the Battlin' Bears posted more passing yards at 284-251, but held the advantage in rushing with 105 to RMC's 51. Each team notched 22 first-downs in the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, DB Jayden Hartwell had an interception and 6 tackles while LB Brock Jones and LB Riley O'Donnell also had 6 tackles to lead the way for DSU, and defensive linemen Matt Anderson and Dylan Dahlgren each had a sack.

"One of the keys, I think, was right at the end of the first half with the defense keeping them out of the end-zone and holding them to a field goal," Stanton said. "I think once we did that and weathered that third quarter, I think we really took charge in the fourth quarter again and ran 30 plays in the fourth quarter and had our opportunities."

The Blue Hawks will next host Mayville State on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. MDT at the Biesiot Activities Center in their North Star Athletic Conference opener.

For more information about the DSU Blue Hawks football team, please keep reading your Dickinson Press and/or visit their website at

https://www.dsubluehawks.com/sports/fball/index

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Box Score

DSU 13 0 0 6 — 19

RMC 0 13 7 0 — 20

Scoring plays

Qrt/Time/Scoring Summary

1/11:23/Dickinson State (ND) — Noah Sickler 40 yd pass from Will Madler. (Chase Miller kick failed).

Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards in 3:37. 6 — 0

1/08:14/Dickinson State (ND) — Galen Brantley 14 yd pass from Will Madler. (Chase Miller kick is good).

Drive: 9 plays, 54 yards in 2:56. 13 — 0

2/12:10/Rocky Mountain — Wyatt Brusven 46 yd field goal.

Drive: 9 plays, 41 yards in 2:35. 13 — 3

2/05:30/Rocky Mountain — DeNiro Killian 14 yd pass from Trent Nobach. (Austin Drake kick is good).

Drive: 6 plays, 38 yards in 1:30. 13 — 10

2/00:00/Rocky Mountain — Wyatt Brusven 21 yd field goal.

Drive: 10 plays, 44 yards in 11:30. 13 — 13

3/08:20/Rocky Mountain — Jack Waddell 4 yd pass from Trent Nobach. (Austin Drake kick is good).

Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards in 6:40. 13 — 20

4/00:08/Dickinson State (ND) — Noah Sickler 1 yd pass from Will Madler. (2pt conversion pass by Will Madler failed).

Drive: 14 plays, 65 yards in 2:47. 19 — 20

Passing

Will Madler — 24-of-37 C/A, 251yds, 3TD, 1INT

Rushing ATT/YDS/AVG/LG/TD

Braden Zuroff 9/49/5.4/15/0

Kaden Kuntz 1/36/36.0/36/0

Will Madler 11/20/1.8/15/0

Darion Brown 1/2/2.0/2/0

B. Grovom 3/2/0.7/5/0

Receiving NO/YDS/AVG/LG/TD

Noah Sickler 10/165/16.5/40/2

Kaden Kuntz 5/38/7.6/13/0

Braden Zuroff 5/27/5.4/8/0

Galen Brantley III 2/18/9.0/14/1

Colin Bowden 1/4/4.0/4/0

C. Sheppard 1/1/1.0/0/0