Sports

DCB falls in semifinal thriller

By Staff reports

11/04/2014

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Dakota College at Bottineau’s (DCB) first foray into playoff football ended in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday.

The Lumberjacks were neck-and-neck with Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) all afternoon. DCB even had an opportunity to win the game late in regulation, but the Yellowjackets survived that and an overtime period to win 24-21.

By winning the teams’ Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) playoff semifinal, RCTC booked its place in this Sunday’s MCAC championship game. The Yellowjackets (7-3) will face ninth-ranked Central Lakes (10-0) in the final in St. Cloud, Minn.

With the loss on Saturday, DCB fell to 8-2 on the season. The Lumberjacks’ only other loss this season came on Sept. 13 when DCB fell 45-31 to Central Lakes.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Yellowjackets’ offense had been firing on all cylinders in recent weeks. RCTC had averaged 57 points per game in its last four outings, and quarterback Nick Rooney came into the MCAC semifinal with a school-record 40 touchdown passes on the season.

DCB’s defense promised to give him a stern test. The Jacks’ secondary in particular has been phenomenal throughout the fall in picking off 26 passes.

By comparison, DCB’s three quarterbacks have only thrown eight interceptions this season.

The Jacks’ defense opened the scoring on Saturday at Rochester Regional Sports Stadium. Picking up a RCTC fumble and returning it 15 yards to the end zone, DCB linebacker Carlton Rematt gave his team a 6-0 lead 4:47 into the game.

Jacks kicker Drayton Murphy hit the subsequent point-after kick to make DCB’s lead 7-0. That lead stuck until the second quarter when the Yellowjackets scored two touchdowns less than five minutes apart.

First, Rooney hit RCTC wide receiver Marley Allison on a 25-yard touchdown pass 1:32 into the quarter.

Not long after that, Rooney went to the air again and linked up with Camren Dearing on a 12-yard pass that helped RCTC go up 14-7. That touchdown pass capped off a seven-play drive that began at the Yellowjackets’ five-yard line.

DCB then tied the game with 4:07 left in the first half after Jacks quarterback Krae Kelso found wide receiver DJ Bien-Aime on a 15-yard touchdown pass.

The score remained stuck at 14-14 until the fourth quarter. It was there that both teams found the end zone once more.

Just under two minutes into the frame, Rooney and Marley linked up again, this time on a 20-yard touchdown pass. DCB fought back, though, and Kelso hit Bien-Aime from 11 yards out with 3:45 left in regulation.

The Jacks then had a chance to win the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter. A 45-yard field goal attempt from Murphy with 16 seconds remaining, however, fell short.

The game then went to overtime. DCB won the coin toss and opted to play defense first in the opening series.

RCTC’s offense set up 25 yards from the end zone and marched down to the Lumberjacks’ one-yard line. DCB then made a big defensive stand, though, and all the Yellowjackets could muster was a 20-yard field goal from kicker Ruan Albuquerque.

RCTC’s defense then made sure that those three points were all the Yellowjackets would need. Rochester stopped the Jacks’ offense on four plays, and Yellowjackets defensive lineman Adam Kroning sacked Kelso on the final play of the game.

DCB is still in the the picture for an at-large berth in one of the NJCAA’s seven bowl games early next month. If the Jacks accept a bowl bid, it isn’t expected to happen until some time after the MCAC championship game on Saturday.

The Jacks made their first-ever bowl appearance last Dec. 7 at the Salt City Bowl in Hutchinson, Kan.