Dickinson State rights the ship with first win of the season
Sep. 19—Valley City, ND — Much like the Battle of Tettenhall in 910 a.d., the Vikings were utterly crushed on Saturday in Valley City as Dickinson State University finally caught fire offensively.
The Blue Hawks scored a touchdown to push an 11-point lead going into halftime, pushing the game to unreachable territory for Valley City University who struggled to retain possession and close the gap. Dickinson State not only defended their first half lead, but expanded it by another 14 points in a 35-10 victory — their first of the season.
The first three drives of the game resulted in alternating touchdowns making it 14-7 with 12:29 left in the first half. Both of the Blue Hawks' TD's came on the ground courtesy of the speedy and hard nosed runs of Riley Linder. Both sides demonstrated a strong running game, the Blue Hawks having only 10 yards more in total rushing yards on the night. However, the difference maker for DSU came courtesy of their passing which was much more efficient, garnering 299 passing yards to the Vikings' 130.
Within the two minutes warning of the first half, Dickinson State's quarterback Aaron White launched a 33-yard passing touchdown to Conor McCarvel — their longest connection on the night. The Blue Hawks had 106 passing yards in the first half alone, as White and his receiving corps were in sync.
With the score at 21-10 at the start of the third quarter, the Vikings would give up the ball on a three and out, allowing the Blue Hawks another passing touchdown on a soul crunching seven-play drive capped by another McCarvel touchdown.
Valley City's woes continued, turning the ball over on downs on their next drive, giving DSU an easy row to hoe by starting on their own 37 yard line. Six plays was all DSU needed to get another passing touchdown, this time from 23 yards out to Alec Lovegren.
The fourth quarter went scoreless, ending with the Blue Hawks in possession and running out the clock on their first win of the season.
White had a good night behind the center going 25-33 with three touchdowns and one interception as his prime target in McCarvel went 11 catches for 132 yards.
VCSU's quarterback is freshman Noah Chambers had 11 completions, the longest throw of the night on a 42 yarder. DSU's defense would have Chambers scrambling all night, garnering three sacks for the efforts.
JaQuawhann Booth tallied two of the sacks for -13 yards, while Krew Mathern and Matt Anderson would share the other for a loss of two yards.
After two weeks of falling short Dickinson State has claimed their first win of the season and will be vying to instill their dominance at home this Saturday against Mayville State — longtime rivals.
