Trinity pleased with start, ready for next test in Valley City

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The Dickinson Trinity football passed its first test, playing well against non-division rival Killdeer.

Since the Titans pounced on a 32-0 season-opening win last Friday, head coach Randy Gordon said the team has showed signs of maturity and defensive tenacity that have started their season on the right path.

“I thought (the defensive play) was good compared from one year to the next,” Gordon said. “They are a lot more aggressive, a lot more confident and I hope that grows. If that grows, we can turn into a pretty good defensive unit.”

That defensive unit looks to continue growing when Trinity (1-0) travels to Valley City at 6 p.m. today. The Hi-Liners’ first game of the season with Carrington was cancelled due to weather conditions.

“We’re just going to go one more week in a non-region game,” Gordon said. “We’re going to try to get better. It’s not a life or death, win or lose the game. It’s if you get better.”

Trinity’s defense caused and recovered four fumbles and nearly intercepted a number of passes. Senior Alex Nielson and sophomore Travis Brooke combined for three sacks and four tackles for loss of yards.

“That all comes back to the experience,” Gordon said. “Kids are getting a little more aggressive. Killdeer fumbled the ball, but we had people all around that grabbing at it. We had good aggressive pursuit defense.”

Senior Jesse Kubik, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound offensive and defensive lineman, said not giving up a touchdown to Killdeer when they were on the Trinity’s 3-yard line gave the team a massive amount of confidence.

“After the game, we were all just jacked,” Kubik said. “We were mostly happy with our defense and the goal-line stand and the offensive line overall was doing really well.”

The offensive side of the ball was sharp, scoring touchdowns through the air and on the ground.

Trinity’s senior quarterback Ben Gordon was 8 of 16 for 88 yards and had three touchdown passes. Two of three went to senior tight end Isiah Binstock.

“We’ve known each other since we were little, so working on some of these other plays we built chemistry between us,” Binstock said.

The running attack didn’t fully start until the second half, and then senior running back Brendin Steiner broke out five rushes for 121 yards. including touchdown runs of 70 and 33 yards.

Steiner, who will get a majority of the carries this season was able to find holes Kubik and company created, but Randy Gordon said Mason Heth, Travis Heidt and Lane Herberholz are expect to have some carries.

“Brendin, by all means, is quick, showed some good speed and had a good game,” Gordon said. “He found the open spots. Mason Heth and Lane Herberholz both ran well. They are all about the same size and same speed.”

The only mark Trinity doesn’t have against them after the first week was turning the ball over to the opposition. Gordon said by talking about it, he hopes the adverse effect doesn’t happen against Valley City.

“We want to continue not turning the ball over and hopefully that can be a team identity of ours,” he said. “That’s definitely going to be an asset to us later. Now didn’t a jinx myself or not.”

Tags: trinity titans, high school football, valley city hi-liners, sports, preps