Sep. 3—For the first time since 2016, the Dickinson State Blue Hawks went up against Black Hills State on the gridiron.
It wasn’t the start to the season they envisioned, as they fell into a large deficit in the second half and couldn’t recover in time, losing 30-24.
After keeping it close at halftime, trailing 17-10, the Blue Hawks fell behind even more as the Yellow Jackets tacked on two more touchdowns in the second half to make it 30-10, a lead that proved to be too much to overcome.
A couple of late touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Aaron White in the fourth quarter made the score look better, but it was too little too late for the Blue Hawks. The latter of the two scores came with just over a minute to go, giving Dickinson State the chance to kick and recover an onside kick, but were unable to do so.
In the first half up 7-3, the Blue Hawks had the ball deep into Black Hills State territory, but a fumble by quarterback Drew Boedecker spoiled their chance to extend the lead. The Yellow Jackets would then answer with an 89-yard drive which resulted in them taking the lead from a 49-yard run from running back Matthew Collier, making it 10-7.
Dickinson State would respond with a field goal from Kicker Jace Johnson to tie the game at 7-7. An interception by defensive back Dawson McGlothlin gave them the ball right back, but their drive would end with a blocked field goal attempt, yet again ruining their chance to take the lead.
Those missed opportunities early on were felt later in the game as they saw themselves in a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t go inside the 15 yards line and not get any points,” Dickinson State head coach Pete Stanton said. “It’s just going to come back to get you and that is exactly what happened.”
Boedecker started at quarterback for the Blue Hawks but was replaced by White in the fourth quarter when they were down 30-10. In the three drives White played, he went 12-16 with 112 yards and two touchdowns. In comparison, Boedecker was 16-24 with 272 yards and one touchdown over his time in the game, a little over three quarters.
Sophomore Noah Sickler led the way receiving with five catches for 111 yards. Junior Conor McCarvel caught nine passes for 102 yards, while senior Tyger Frye had 101 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions.
The Blue Hawks had a hard time establishing the running game with only 72 rushing yards on 2 yards per carry, led by junior running back Riley Linder with 48 yards on 14 carries.
Last year’s — and the five years prior — North Star Athletic Association champions will have a few more days rest until their next matchup, when they welcome Montana Western to the Biesiot Activities Center next Saturday, Sept. 11.
“Not a very good performance on our part,” Stanton said. ” We got to coach better, we got to play better. We just did not execute really well on both sides of the ball.”