Defense ruled the first half of Dickinson High’s homecoming football game Friday night against Valley City.
Unfortunately for the Midgets, Valley City’s Zach Sykora and Ethan Miller controlled the second half.
The Hi-Liners’ junior running back duo combined for 223 rushing yards and four touchdown runs as they wore down the Midgets en route to a 27-6 victory at the Biesiot Activities Center.
“We made a couple of adjustments and then Sykora decided he wanted to win the game and he ran hard,” Valley City head coach Scott Roehrich said.
Valley City, ranked No. 5 in 11-man Class A, improved to 4-0 on the season using its punishing Wing-T offense to maintain possession and control the clock in the second half.
The Hi-Liners rushed for 295 yards and attempted just three passes – all of which went incomplete. Their defense held Dickinson to just 81 total yards, including just 35 yards rushing on 19 carries.
“Offensively we couldn’t sustain a drive, and defensively, we were on the field a lot,” Dickinson head coach John Tuchscherer said. “Their style of football really wore on our guys in the fourth quarter, and then when we started getting tired, we started making mistakes and doing more than we needed to instead of playing the scheme and assignment.”
Neither Dickinson or Valley City could get much going offensively in the first half. Several possessions ended in punts, turnovers and even two missed field goals for Valley City.
“Both teams came out a little flat, almost worried,” Roehrich said.
It wasn’t until the third quarter that each team showed signs of offensive life.
Even still, Valley City’s first scoring drive was in danger of stalling until a Dickinson personal foul penalty set the Hi-Liners up at the 16-yard line. Sykora carried it three straight times from there and capped the 8-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to put Valley City up 7-0 with just under 8 minutes to play in the third quarter.
“In the second half, they got a few things going,” Tuchscherer said. “There was a couple times we aided that with penalties and not-smart decisions.”
Miller gave the Hi-Liners a 14-0 lead just 3½ minutes later when he took the ball seemingly untouched on an inside seam for a 35-yard TD run.
The Midgets didn’t go quietly though.
They got a spark of life from senior receiver Ben Carlson and junior backup quarterback Stephen Zawodny.
Following a 58-yard kick return by Carlson, Zawodny capped a wild first series on the field – he had two high snaps go over his head – by floating a perfect 33-yard touchdown strike to Carlson in stride in the end zone. That cut the Hi-Liners’ lead to 14-6.
“It was a great catch by Ben Carlson,” Zawodny said. “I put it right there and he got it. It was beautiful.”
But Valley City’s rushing attack continued to chip away and kept the Midgets offense off the field. Miller added a 38-yard TD run on the next drive to make it 20-6. Sykora, the Hi-Liners’ workhorse back much of the second half, scored from 3 yards out on the next possession to cap a 12-play series that milked 6 minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. He also had a first-half interception.
Dickinson didn’t have an offensive possession in the final 10 minutes of the game after fumbling the kick return after Miller’s second touchdown.
“Our kids played hard. I never have to question their effort,” Tuchscherer said. “We just have to execute better when we’re tired and late in the third and into the fourth quarter.”
The Midgets (2-2) host Devils Lake (1-3) at 6 p.m. Friday at the BAC in a non-region game.
“We’ve got to come back next week and play even harder, be more physical,” Zawodny said.
First Quarter
No scoring
Second Quarter
No scoring
Third Quarter
VC–Zach Skykora 1 run (Bryson Heck kick)
VC–Ethan Miller 35 run (Heck kick)
DHS–Ben Carlson 33 pass from Stephen Zawodny (kick blocked)
Fourth Quarter
VC–Miller 38 run (kick blocked)
VC–Sykora 3 run (Heck kick)
TOTAL YARDS: VC 295. DHS 81.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: VC, Zach Sykora 23-108, Ethan Miller 12-115, Gavin Gerhardt 14-36, Bryson Heck 9-11, Conner Suhr 2-12, Scot Rhode 1-11, Caden Amann 1-2. DHS, Sam Stillings 7-16, Shayden Jackson-Zietz 6-15, Braden Meschke 3-8, Chase Selle 1-11, Stephen Zawodny 1-(minus-11), Carlson 1-(minus-4).
PASSING: VC, Heck 0-3-0 0. DHS Zawodny 3-5-0 43. Jackson-Zietz 1-7-1 3,
RECEIVING: VC, None. DHS, Chase Selle 2-2, Carlson 1-33, Drew Biel 1-11.
701 Sports 