October 27, 2018

PHOTO GALLERY - Photos credits by Karen Giles and Cody Welu

MADISON, S.D. – History was made for Dakota State (S.D.) Trojan Football team Saturday afternoon at Trojan Field, but fell short by the score of 51-37 in the North Star Athletic Association conference action versus Waldorf (Iowa).  The Trojans, who played in their final home football game of the season, led 15-3 in the first quarter, but the Warriors scored 28 unanswered points to pull away for the victory.

Dakota State's two-game winning streak came to an end, falling to 3-7 overall record and 2-4 NSAA conference record.  Waldorf improved their overall record to 4-5 and 4-2 NSAA conference record. 

The Warriors swept the season series, defeating the Trojans 50-35 earlier this season.

FIRST QUARTER

Dakota State was unable to score on the first possession of the game.  The Trojans used 6 plays for 59 yards in three minutes as Casey Bourque missed a 33-yard field goal. 

Waldorf marched down on the field, recording 13 plays for 61 yards in 4:55 as Slater Gifford hit a 36-yard field goal.  WU led 3-0 with 7:05 on the clock in the first quarter.

The Trojans answered back on the ensuing drive.  Torren Devericks opened up with a 42-yard pass to Mason Leighton from the DSU's 25-yard line to WU's 33 yard-line.  He connected to Leighton again for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 5:43 to go in the opening quarter.  Bourque followed up with the PAT extra-point kick to give DSU a 7-3 lead.

Dakota State recovered the ball from the kickoff, starting their next drive on WU's 30-yard line.  Brodie Frederiksen rushed for 13 yards on the second play, breaking a 40-year old school record single-season school record.  He surpassed Jim Janssen's single-season record of 1,370 yards set in 1978.

Facing a third-and-15 situation, Devericks threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Leighton with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter.  The Trojans converted a successful 2-point PAT attempt as Devericks delivered a pass to Marcus Vanden Bosch, ballooning their lead to 15-3.

Waldorf quickly answered on the next drive, registering 6 plays for 61 yards in 3:11.  Hilton Joseph threw an 11-yard pass touchdown pass to Samuel Huntley with 46 seconds left.  Gifford followed up with the PAT kick as WU cut DSU's lead to 15-10.

SECOND QUARTER

Caleb Nielsen hit a career-long punt of 67 yards in the early second quarter for the Trojans (from DSU's 30-yard line to WU's 3-yard line).

Nielsen recorded his second punt in the second quarter, recording a 52-yard punt from DSU's 34-yard line to WU's 7-yard line.

The Warriors then marched down the field by using 9 plays for 93 yards in nearly five minutes to regain their lead.  WU produced five first-downs, with four first-downs coming from 10-plus passing yards, in scoring drive.  Joseph threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Don Jones, followed by Slater's PAT extra-point kick for a 17-15 lead with 3:37 left in the second quarter.

WU added another score as they recorded a quarterback sack and forced the fumble on the same play by Marcel Linder, while DeShaun Quinn returned a fumble of 61 yards for a touchdown with 53 seconds left.  Slater added the PAT extra-point kick to widen Warriors' lead to 24-15.

Waldorf outscored Dakota State 14-0 in the second quarter.

THIRD QUARTER

Waldorf kicked off the second half with another touchdown, thanks to a pair of 20-plus rushing yards plays.  Smanuel Huntley rushed for 32 yards from their own 45-yard line to DSU's 23-yard line.  Bo Evans followed up with a 23-yard touchdown rush, while Gifford added the PAT extra-point kick to put WU up 31-15 with 12:54 on the clock.

Dakota State broke their scoring drought by answering back with a touchdown on the ensuing drive.  After a 39-yard kick-off return by David Bond to WU's 48-yard line, the Trojans produced three first down passing plays including a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bond with 11:04 left.  Bourque hit a successful PAT extra-point kick as the Trojans trim Warriors' lead to 31-22.

Waldorf used a pair of 30-plus yards plays on the next drive, leading to a touchdown.  Evans opened up with a 38-yard rush for a first-down on DSU's 32-yard line.  Joseph threw a 32-yard touchdown to Benjamin Mau.  Slater made the PAT extra-point kick to make it 38-22 in favor of the Warriors with 9:54 on the clock.

Dakota State could not convert their red-zone scoring opportunity on the next possession.  Despite recording 7 plays for 64 yards in 3:54, Cameron Newsome intercepted Devericks' pass on WU's 2-yard line with six minutes to go.

Joseph threw a 98-yard touchdown pass to Jones on the next play as the Warriors' lead grew to 44-22 with 5:43 left in the third quarter.  Gifford's PAT extra-point kick was blocked by Michael Cleveland.

Waldorf added another defensive touchdown on the following possession.  James Jackson, Jr. intercepted Devericks' pass and returned it for touchdown of 58 yards.  Gifford's PAT extra-point kick was good as the Warriors recorded its biggest lead of the game at 51-22 with 4:18 on the clock in the third quarter.

The Trojans kicked off the next drive with a 68-yard pass from Devericks to Leighton, moving the ball from DSU's 31-yard line to WU's 1-yard line.  Frederiksen rushed for a 1-yard touchdown on third-and-goal situation with 3:34 on the clock.  After WU committed a penalty, DSU converted a successful 2-point attempt as Devericks connected to Bond.

Waldorf poured in 27 points in the third quarter, while Dakota State tallied 15 points.

FOURTH QUARTER

Both teams failed to convert their scoring chances in the fourth quarter with DSU's drive stopped on WU's 9-yard line, turning the ball on downs with 7:03 remaining.  Waldorf also turned the ball on downs with 2:44 left after recording 9 plays for 86 yards in 4:19.

Devericks threw an 84-yard pass to Bond from DSU's 5-yard line to WU's 11-yard line.  Devericks connected to Leighton for their third touchdown of the game, this time a 7-yard touchdown pass with 1:27 left.  The PAT extra-point kick by Bourque was good as the Trojans trailed 51-37.

The Warriors secured the victory after recovering the ball from Trojans' onside kick-off attempt.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Devericks finished the game with the single-game school record of 505 passing yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions for the Trojans.  He completed 29 passes in 45 attempts.  Leighton and Bond combined for 423 receiving yards in the game.

Leighton caught career-highs 12 receptions and 223 receiving yards with three touchdowns, surpassing the single-season record for most receiving yards with 1,217 yards.  Bond also had career-highs eight catches for 200 yards and a touchdown.  Mitchell Galloway added five receptions for 51 yards.

Frederiksen rushed five times for 18 yards with a touchdown for Dakota State.  He set the single-season rushing yards of 1,387 rushing yards.

DSU's Nielsen finished the game with three punts of 156 yards.  He tied the single-game school record of 52.0 yards per punt.

Vanden Bosch led the Trojans' defense with 12 tackles.  Cleveland added seven tackles and a blocked PAT extra-point kick.  Curt Boeke had six tackles.  Vanden Bosch, Boeke and Braedon Wallenstein each registered a tackle-for-loss.

Joseph was 22-of-34 for 382 yards with four touchdowns in the air for Waldorf.  Jones caught eight passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. 

Evans rushed 16 times for 148 yards with a touchdown.

Trever Gunderson tallied six tackles for the Warriors.  The Warriors' defense recorded three quarterback sacks of 18.0 yards loss.  Jackson, Jr. and Newsome each recorded an interception.

TEAM COMPARISONS

Waldorf racked up 595 total offensive yards in the game (68 plays – 8.8 yards per play) compared to Dakota State 542 offensive yards (63 plays – 8.6 yards per play).  The Warriors rushed for 213 yards while the Trojans had 37 rushing yards.  DSU threw 505 yards in the air.  WU had 382 passing yards.

The Warriors produced 28 first-downs in the game compared to the Trojans 22 first-downs. 

DSU committed three turnovers in the game.  WU recorded no turnovers. 

Waldorf went 5-of-11 on third-downs.  Dakota State was 3-of-11 on third-down situations. 

The Warriors maintained a time possession of 30 minutes, 38 seconds.  The Trojans had the ball for 29 minutes, 22 seconds.

RECORD-BREAKING DAY

The following Trojan Football records were set today at Trojan Field with the previous record in parenthesis:

• Single-season rushing yards:  Brodie Frederiksen – 1,387 rushing yards (Jim Janssen – 1,370 rushing yards in 1978)
• Single-season receiving yards:  Mason Leighton – 1,217 receiving yards (Austin Opdahl – 1,121 receiving yards in 2017)
• Single-season touchdown receptions:  Mason Leighton – 18 touchdown catches (Austin Opdahl – 16 touchdown catches in 2017)
• Single-game passing yards:  Torren Devericks – 505 passing yards (Jacob Giles – 452 passing yards versus Dakota Wesleyan, S.D. in 2017)
• Single-game punting yards (tie):  Caleb Nielsen – 52.0 yards per punt (3 punts) (Josh Licht – 52.0 yards per punt, 3 punts at South Dakota Mines in 2013)
• Single-game team passing yards:  505 passing yards (452 passing yards versus Dakota Wesleyan in 2017)

DSU SENIORS

Dakota State honored its ten seniors during the brief ceremony prior to the kick-off.  The ten seniors that played their final career home collegiate football game at Trojan Field are:  Cleveland, Ryan Dozier, Galloway, Bond, Mahcia Davis, Boeke, Deonte Randle, Jacob Habeger, Terry Jones, Jr. and Levar Colbert.

UP NEXT

Dakota State closes out their regular-season schedule next Saturday as they visit the North Star's conference leader No. 19-ranked Dickinson State (N.D.).  Kick-off from the Biesiot Activities Center is set for 2 p.m. (Central Time)/1 p.m. (Mountain Time).

Waldorf (Iowa) finishes out their regular-season at home versus Mayville State (N.D.) next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State Sports Information Director