Dominant effort sends DSU football to postseason on a high note

Madison, S.D. – With their ninth consecutive North Star Athletic Association title wrapped up last weekend, one might have expected a bit of a let down from Dickinson State as they wrapped up their regular season at Dakota State University. That did not happen, as the Blue Hawks cruised to a 52-0 blowout victory over the last-place Trojans to put an exclamation point on the end of another dominant season. DSU will now await the decision of the NAIA Selection Committee to see whether or not there will be playoff football at the BAC next weekend.

Quarterback Will Madler threw just 16 times but went 13-16 for 241 yards and a touchdown and Braden Zuroff continued his breakout campaign with 9 carries for 59 yards and three touchdowns as the Blue Hawks gathered 463 yards of total offense on the day.

After Madler connected with Cameron Sheppard for a 35-yard score for the only points in the first quarter, the Blue Hawk offense came alive, scoring four times in the second quarter. The outburst was aided by two Dakota State turnovers in their own territory, one on downs and the other on a fumble recovered by Tel Lunde who also had an interception on the day. In the quarter, Zuroff rushed for all three of his scores and Madler connected on another long touchdown pass, this one a 29-yarder to Noah Sickler to put the game out of reach.

The final two touchdowns of the game came in the second half when Bridger Grovom ran one in from 9 yards out and Darion Brown took the first play after a turnover on downs from the Trojans 41 yards to the endzone.

Chase Miller was perfect yet again, going 7 for 7 on extra points and 1-1 on field goals when he connected from 19 yards in the fourth quarter.

The defense was dominant as well, securing their second shutout in three weeks and allowing just 175 yards of total offense, with 42 coming on a run with around two minutes left in the game, as they collected 4 sacks (Dylan Dahlgren, Jasper LaDue, Krew Mathern, and Matt Anderson) and 9 tackles for loss on the day.

"I'm really proud of our guys for getting the job done and finishing out the regular season," said head coach Pete Stanton. "It would have been easy to peak ahead to next week, but we stayed on course and executed well on both sides of the ball. Our 2's and 3's played a great second half to close it out."

The Blue Hawks will find out their playoff fate tomorrow, Sunday, November 12 at 5:00 pm MT, stayed tuned for more info…