Dickinson State cruises past Trojans for Homecoming win

DICKINSON, N.D. – A chilly October morning turned into a gorgeous afternoon for football, as Dickinson State cruised to a 40-14 Homecoming victory over NSAA rival Dakota State.

All the usual suspects got involved, with quarterback Will Madler throwing for 183 yards and three touchdowns, Braden Zuroff rushing for 89 and a score, and Chase Miller continued his perfect kicking streak, capped off by a 48-yard field goal.

Krew Mathern had an outstanding final Homecoming on defense despite not making a tackle, intercepting two Dakota State passes for his second and third career interceptions.

"We are very proud of our effort today in all three phases," said head coach Pete Stanton. "Our guys started well again and kept it going. It was a special day with the football reunion and the support of our Homecoming crowd was amazing. Our players fed off of that and put together a great win."

In addition to Homecoming weekend, DSU Football hosted an All-Class reunion, with former players showing up ranging from the class of 2022 all the way back to 1947.

The big crowd didn't have to wait long to get excited, as the Blue Hawks scored on their first possession when Madler found Nathan Schumacher in the back of the endzone for a 2-yard touchdown reception.

Dickinson State actually scored on its first six possessions of the game before finally being forced to punt in the third quarter.

Zuroff scored the next Blue Hawk touchdown from 48 yards out on an impressive run to make it 14-0 DSU and Darion Brown got in on the action next, scoring from 11 yards out for a commanding 21-0 lead.

After Dakota State made it a two-score game again with their first touchdown of the day, Chase Miller went to work on the next two possessions connecting on field goals of 22 and 48 yards to remain a perfect 9-9 on field goals for the year and extend his made kicks streak to 31 in a row.

Dickinson State only turned the ball over once on the day, when Jace Friesz was picked off late in the fourth quarter, but Braedy Santens knocked the ball loose and recovered the fumble to immediately get the ball back without a true loss of possession and the Blue Hawks ran out the clock from there.

Kaden Kuntz led the Blue Hawk receivers, hauling in five catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, while Cameron Sheppard caught 3 passes for 44 yards including a 34-yard touchdown strike in the third quarter.