Week 8: East Dubuque vs Dakota

Warriors win a tough one against Dakota

Dakota - Looking to get the homecoming crowd fired up, Dakota tried to get their offense going early in this week 8 game against East Dubuque. It appeared that they would be punting from their own 21 yard line after the offense lost 9 yards from the original line of scrimmage, however a personal foul call on East Dubuque resulted in a first down for Dakota. The Indians would make that penalty hurt, as Kaidyn Niedermeier found Tug Dornink on a 36 yard connection, and followed that play with a 26 yard TD connection with 8:35 to go in the first quarter to strike first. The 2 point try failed, but Dakota had the early 6-0 lead.

The Warriors would storm back, as they started their first drive from the Dakota 48 yard line. Sam Huntington would get the offense going with the ground game, busting off a 19 yard run to get to the 10 yard line. From there, over the next 2 plays he would pick up the remaining 10 yards to put the Warriors on the board. Sam Bowman would connect with Brevin Lee for the 2 point conversion as East Dubuque would take an 8-6 lead with 3:33 to play in the 1st quarter, which they would never relinquish.

The ensuing drive would see the Indians go backwards, as the Warriors forced them to punt from their own 12 yard line. The Warriors would start their next drive at the Dakota 32 yard line. Bowman would take to the air, connecting with Lee for 10 yards. The Indians would get pressure on Bowman and pick up a sack, but he would respond from that with another connection to Lee, this time for 17 yards. They would work the ball down to the 2 yard line before Huntington punched it in again for the score. The 2 point try failed, but with 9:26 to play in the 2nd quarter the Warriors were up 14-6.

Dakota would begin their next drive at the East Dubuque 40 yard line. They would lose some yardage on a run play before Niedermeier connected with Adrian Arellano for a 42 yard TD. The 2 point conversion would fail, but Dakota trimmed the deficit to 14-12 with 8:35 to play before the half.

On the Indians next drive they would be set up with great field position at their own 47 yard line. They would begin to drive the ball into Warrior territory, but as Niedermeier was trying to scramble to avoid a sack, he attempted to pull the ball up to try a pass, but fumbled it. The Warriors' Connor Miller was there to jump on it and end the drive, which would keep the score at 14-12 headed into the break.

Both teams would exchange punts in a scoreless 3rd quarter. With 11:00 to go in the game East Dubuque would take control of the ball at their own 3 yard line. They would get a big 25 yard run from Huntington to help move them into Dakota territory. Huntington would pick up another 28 yards on a pass play. The Warriors would find themselves at the Dakota 3 yard line, but the Indian defense put up back to back stops to make it 4th and goal from the yard line. Bowman would take the snap, plunge forward, and get a push from Miller and Huntington to help get in the end zone with 1:49 left in the game. Bowman would connect with Zach Freiburger for the 2 point conversion to make the score 22-12.

Dakota would try to make an effort to score, but they would be forced to turn the ball over on downs at their own 45 yard line with 2:23 left in the game. Bowman would connect with Huntington for 31 yards to help the Warriors run out the clock and walk away with the win, 22-12.

East Dubuque was led by Sam Huntington who would finish with 177 yards rushing, 76 yards receiving, and 2 TD's. Sam Bowman went 8-13 passing for 129 yards and had 1 rushing TD. Brevin Lee picked up 37 yards through the air.

Dakota was led by Kaidyn Niedermeier who went 11-21 passing for 142 yards and 2 TD's. Tug Dornink finished with 78 yards receiving with a score, while Adrian Arellano had a 42 yard reception for a score. Camden Foesch would pick up 22 yards through the air.

Dakota (2-6) will finish the season on the road at Fulton (6-2) Friday night.

East Dubuque (3-5) will return home for a rivalry game with Galena (4-4) on Friday.