Sports

Jacks drop season opener to Mayville

By Tyler Ohmann

09/04/2012

For the first time ever the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks played against a four-year college varsity team this past Thursday night under the lights at Les Christian Field in Bottineau.

The Jacks hosted Mayville State University, and the Comets capitalized on the Jacks’ mistakes to take home a 42-6 win in DCB’s season opener.

“We played in a heck of a game, we just have to step up,” said freshman Damon Bateman. “We just have to come back next week, continue doing what we’re doing and practice hard, and we’ll be all right.”

Bateman, a linebacker for the Jacks, had a sack midway through the second quarter to get the ball back to the offenses hands, and also hauled in a nice interception late in the game to set up the Jacks with a short field.

Bateman said he felt good on the field, and hopes he can rally his teammates to work hard and practice.

“It felt good, felt like I had my rhythm back,” Bateman said. “I just have to continue to work hard, come back on Monday and let the team know what I’m doing.”

The lone touchdown for the Jacks was scored by back up quarterback Malcolm Allen on a short touchdown scamper in the second half.

Allen came in for starting quarterback Jonathan Parks who tweaked a hamstring on the final play of the first half.

Alex Munoz also saw time at quarterback for the Jacks late in the fourth quarter.

DCB fell behind early after the Comets tailback Dominique Bradley tore away from the Jacks defender and went 67 yards for the score on the opening play of the game.

Bradley scored the Comet’s first four scores.

“The game we thought was a lot closer than the score indicated,” stated Jacks Head Coach Tim Pfeifer. “We gave up a long run, a long pass and a bad snap on a punt which led to 21 points for them.”

The Jacks had a few strong drives deep into Comet’s territory in the first half. The drives were brought on mostly by the legs of Parks and sophomore running back Mathis Thomas.

However, one drive died after a fumble at the 10 yard line, and a few other drives deep into Comets territory ended due to penalties.

“On offense we were able to move the ball, but we were our own worse enemy,” Pfeifer stated. “We dropped a touchdown pass, fumbled on the five going in and twice had drives inside of the red zone stopped by penalties.”

In the second half Comets senior quarterback Tanner Carpenter hooked up a few times with wide out Taylor Kunkel, including two touchdowns to solidify the Mayville lead.

“It wasn’t easier, but it wasn’t hard,” Bateman said. “We just made some mistakes, that’s the only reason why they beat us.”

The Jacks will try to turn things around at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9 at Concordia JV in Moorhead, Minn.

“Overall we were happy with our effort for the first game and found we have many things to work on yet,” Pfeifer stated. “The players will get a couple days off with Labor Day weekend here and back to work on Monday to get ready for the Concordia JV next Sunday in Moorehead.”