Sports
DCB football scrambles to get ready
Tyler Ohmann
08/20/2013
For all four years that Dakota College at Bottineau football coach Tim Pfeifer has been at DCB he has tried to get the Lumberjacks into a conference. Finally, with a lot of work, the Jacks have been accepted into the Minnesota College Athletic Conference for the 2014 season.
It also makes them a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III, and Region XIII.
The prospect of having something to play for is exciting for Pfeifer.
“We sure hope it’s going to help recruiting,” Pfeifer said. “Now we’ve got something to play for.”
“(If) everything goes well, we get a playoff game, and then we have a chance at a bowl game,” Pfeifer continued. “There is some light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully that helps us recruit a few more players.”
However, the Jacks have more pressing matters, their season is only days away, and players continue to arrive to campus daily.
Most of those newcomers are either lineman or defensive players, both positions that will see new faces on the field in 2013.
“Offensively we actually have a lot of our skill players that have been here on campus,” Pfeifer said. “Defense we hardly have any that have been here, but we really like the defense.”
As for the offensive line, depth, as always is a concern.
“Every college in North Dakota except for probably the Bison and the Sioux are short lineman,” Pfeifer said. “They are always looking for lineman, and we’re hoping to get five or six more.”
Pfeifer and his staff are doing their best to get the late arrivals ready for their first game, which is against rival Trinity Bible College at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Bottineau.
“We play them twice every year, so there aren’t really any secrets,” Pfeifer said about the Lions. “We pretty much know what they’re going to do and they pretty much know what we’re going to do.”
Last season the Lions beat DCB 35-21 at the homecoming game in Bottineau, but the Jacks got revenge in Ellendale, beating the Lions 37-24.
“It kind of comes down to the turnover battle, the last couple times it came down to who didn’t turnover the ball won the game,” Pfeifer said. “For us it’s going to be holding on to the ball on offense and not giving up the big play on defense.”
The Jacks finished 2-6 on the year, but that won’t be the case this year. DCB added at least two more games, possibly three to their schedule in preparation for an expanded schedule next season.
Pfeifer thinks they’ll be able to compete, but can’t wait to play other teams on the Jacks’ level.
“We hope to be pretty competitive in most of our games this year, and next year we should be competitive in all of them,” Pfeifer said. “Next year is going to be fun when we get to play against teams that are the same as us.”
While the prospect of next year’s conference, and NJCAA status is bright in their minds, the Jacks still have to play out this season. Things look good so far according to Pfeifer.
“We think we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were as far as quarterback play,” Pfeifer said. “We’ve got some decent skill positions, decent tight ends, decent running backs, it’s just going to come down to our offensive line.”