Montana All-Stars overcome turnovers, defeat North Dakota

• Dylan Simac and Adam Jiskra

Team Montana receiver Dylan Simac of Helena, left, fights off Team North Dakota defensive back Adam Jiskra of Grafton, right, during the 19th annual Badlands Bowl high school all-star football game on Saturday at the Badlands Activities Center.
• Devin Schirado

Team North Dakota receiver Devin Schirado hauls in a pass from quarterback Devin Coyle of Mandan late in the second quarter. The reception led to a field goal.

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Team Montana didn’t let four turnovers flounder a strong performance.

Montana retook the lead midway through the third quarter and never gave it up, defeating Team North Dakota 27-15 in the 19th annual Badlands Bowl all-star high school football game on Saturday at the Badlands Activities Center.

“I thought we did a really good job in the passing game in the first half,” Montana head coach Terry Thomas said. “We felt if we could add the run in the second half, then we could be very effective in the second half and that’s exactly what happened.”

Home-field advantage has proved to be a major factor in the past Badlands Bowl games and Montana broke the trend and in the meantime snapping a winless streak in Dickinson that stretched back to 2003.

“The reason why it’s kind of hard to play here is the fans are so passionate about football,” said Montana wide receiver Ryan Burke, from Billings Central. “The home-field advantage is real strong on both sides, so it was nice to come out and get the win.”

The game was full of momentum swings, but none bigger than when Montana’s Dylan Kramer punched in a two-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter to take a 20-15 lead.

“We went ahead by a point (15-14) and then they came right back and scored,” North Dakota head coach Rod Oksendahl said. “That’s where they gained the momentum away from us. We had the momentum and they took it away in the second half.”

From there, Montana’s defense stifled North Dakota’s offense and padded the lead with a Brady Gustafson 10-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Simac early in fourth quarter.

Malta’s Kyle Boos was named Montana’s Defensive Most Valuable Player after logging a team-high eight tackles.

North Dakota created four turnovers on defense, but only generated three points off them — a 37-yard field goal by Jon Baune to end the second quarter.

“We didn’t get much out of them,” Oksendahl said. “I know we got a field goal out of one, but other than that I don’t think we got anything and that hurt.”

Thomas, the head coach at Dillon, said the turnovers didn’t hurt the team because of field position for North Dakota. On each turnover, North Dakota had regained possession in its own territory.

Brandon Nelson, a defensive back from Fargo Shanley, had two interceptions and forced a fumble. North Dakota recovered two of Montana’s three fumbles.

Chris Sommer of Devils Lake was North Dakota’s Defensive MVP. He had 14 tackles and a fumble recovery.

“The good thing about the offense is even though they turned the ball over they had created field position,” Thomas said. “We didn’t give them a short field to score on.”

After allowing 14 straight points to start the game, North Dakota piled up yards on the shoulders of Stanley-Powers Lake’s Landon Smith and Mandan’s Seth Westby. Smith scored North Dakota’s only two touchdowns, a 1-yarder with 2:13 left in the second quarter and a 3-yard plunge 2 minutes into the third.

“I say it every time I get interviewed, it starts upfront,” Smith said. “The offensive line makes the holes and we just have to find the holes and get there. They do all the work.”

Burke, who was Montana’s Offensive MVP, was a familiar face in the end zone. He caught touchdown passes from both Gustafson and JT Linder. Burke finished the game with nine catches for 124 yards.

“At halftime, we went in and made some adjustments that helped us out,” Gustafson said. “We started balancing the pass with the run.”

Gustafson and Linder each completed 11 passes.

Gustafson, a Billings West High School graduate who stands 6-foot-7, threw for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Linder, from Dillon, added 95 yards and one touchdown.

Gustafson and Burke are both headed to the University of Montana this fall and the quarterback hopes to continue that connection.

“Ryan is one my buddies and we are going to college in Missoula, Mont., so hopefully there are many more to come,” Gustafson said with a laugh.

After Burke’s second touchdown catch, North Dakota’s ground game began to work.

Smith piled up 15 carries for 55 yards. Westby added 10 carries for 56 yards.

“Going into the game I was thinking I want to score. It would be sweet to score a touchdown in this game,” Smith said. “I got two and it’s just a great feeling in a game like this.”

The majority of the offense in North Dakota’s backfield came from Mandan’s Devin Coyle, who was named North Dakota’s Offensive MVP. He completed 17 passes for 223 yards, while picking up 57 yards on the ground.

“Devin just had a tremendous ballgame,” Oksendahl said. “Devin Coyle showed us why he was the (state’s) Gatorade Player of the Year. He’s a tremendous football player.”

Montana 6 8 6 7 — 27

ND 0 9 6 0 — 15

First quarter

M–Ryan Burke 28 pass from JT Linder (kick failed), 8:04.

Second quarter

M–Ryan Burke 44 pass from Brady Gustafson (Dalton Reid pass from Gustafson), 8:46.

ND–Landon Smith 1 run (run failed), 2:13.

ND–Jon Baune 37 FG, :00.3.

Third quarter

ND–Smith 3 run (pass failed), 13:01.

MT–Dylan Kramer 2 run (pass failed), 8:30.

Fourth quarter

MT–Dylan Simac 9 pass from Brady Gustafson (Collin Allen kick), 11:40

TEAM STATISTICS Montana ND

First downs 30 25

Rushes-yards 46-200 42-173

Passing yards 226 223

Comp.-Att.-Int. 22-38-2 17-38-0

Total yards 426 396

Fumbles-lost 3-2 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-34 7-40

Punts-Avg. 2-34 4-47

INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE STATISTICS

RUSHING: Montana, Nate Caldwell 11-63, Clay Compton 11-46, J.T. Linder 12-40, Brady Gustafson 8-30, Chad Newell 2-14, Dylan Kramer 2-7. ND, Devin Coyle 14-57, Seth Westby 10-56, Landon Smith 15-55, Zayne Medhaug 2-7, Josh Hansana 1-(minus-2).

PASSING: Montana, Gustafson 11-19-1 132; Linder 11-19-1 94. ND, Coyle 17-34-0 223; Hansana 0-4-0 0.

RECEIVING: Montana, Ryan Burke 9-124, Dylan Simic 8-79, Dalton Reid 2-16, Nate Caldwell 2-(minus-2). ND, Aaron Janz 11-149, Jon Baune 3-33, Devin Schirado 2-44, Seth Westby 1-(minus-3).

MONTANA DEFENSIVE STATISTICS

TACKLES (Unassisted tackles-Total tackles): Kyle Boos 2-8, Zeke Koslosky 2-6, Joe Coker 3-5, Tyrell Hess 2-5, Ben Stroh 2-5, Dylan Kramer 4-4, Chase Williams 3-4, A.J. Wilson 3-4, Luke Halliburton 2-4, Ben Sulser 2-4, Kodee Varner 2-4, Collin Allen 3-3, Caleb Kidder 2-2, Pat Barnett 1-2, Bo Harris 1-2, Matt Michelotti 1-2, Tyson Patterson 1-2.

SACKS: Halliburton, Patterson.

TACKLES FOR LOSS: Allen 2, Hess 1½, Halliburton 1½, Coker 1, Kidder 1, Patterson 1.

FORCED FUMBLES: None.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES: None.

INTERCEPTIONS: None.

NORTH DAKOTA DEFENSIVE STATISTICS

TACKLES (Unassisted tackles-Total tackles): Chris Sommer 1-14, Brandon Nelson 4-8, Jeff Dennison 5-7, Adam Jiskra 3-7, Tyler Rivard 2-7, Jake Watson 2-6, Austyn Raftevold 1-6, Zach Rhone 2-5, Tucker Fylling 1-4, Landon Smith 3-3, Preston Tescher 2-3, Joey Fuher 1-3, Alex Herold 1-3, Phaden Marcellais 1-2, Tucker Nordby 0-2, Jon Baune 1-1, Zayne Medhaug 1-1, Conrad Schwarzkopf 1-0, Aaron Janz 0-1, Dayton Marek 0-1, Seth Westby 0-1.

SACKS: Rhone 1, Raftevold ½, Nordby ½.

TACKLES FOR LOSS: Dennis 1, Raftevold 1, Knutson 1, Rhone 1, Tescher 1, Herold 1, Nordby ½, Sommer ½.

FORCED FUMBLES: Nelson, Watson, Tescher.B

FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Sommer, Tescher.

INTERCEPTIONS: Nelson 2.

AWARDS

Montana Offensive MVP: Ryan Burke, WR, Billings Central

Montana Defensive MVP: Kyle Boos, LB, Malta

North Dakota Offensive MVP: Devin Coyle, QB, Mandan

North Dakota Defensive MVP: Chris Sommer, LB, Devils Lake

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