Midgets hope to fix mistakes against Blue Jays

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High school football teams across the nation, no matter what level, will sit down once a week to watch game film and work on correcting mistakes.

The Dickinson High football team grasped its mistakes on film and look to correct them in a must-win game against Class 3A, West Region opponent Jamestown at 6 p.m. today.

“This is a double-pressure situation,” Dickinson head coach Dennis Morris said. “We consider Jamestown a must win. It is a must win if you want to look at playoff options.”

Dickinson’s players recognize the mistakes have to be fixed in hopes of not running into No. 1-ranked Bismarck High next Friday with three straight losses.

“There’s definitely room for improvement,” Dickinson junior offensive and defensive lineman Aaron Sayler said. “We’re figuring it out this week and we should be ready for Jamestown.”

The Midgets went down to the wire in a 20-13 home loss to No. 5-ranked Bismarck Century in its West Region opener. Dickinson kept the Patriots in check with the exception of Century tailback Ryan Gesellchen, who had 25 carries and 132 yards and three touchdowns.

On the flipside, the Midgets’ offense struggled to get going at times. In film, the struggles were apparent to Morris, the rest of the coaching staff and the players.

“We had some confusion going with their front that we didn’t realize it was happening during the game, but on film it was very evident,” Morris said. “That’s a mistake we can clean up. That’s a mistake we’re going to correct and hopefully not be in those positions anymore.”

When Dickinson’s running attack gets going, it can be hard to stop.

The Midgets have six players that have eight or more carries in the three games this season. Junior Michael Cherwinski is the team’s primary back, but senior fullback Alec Stieg has racked up 77 yards on eight carries, an average of 9.6 yards per carry, and had a touchdown against Century.

“We rotate in, so we have a fresh person each time,” Dickinson senior fullback Jacob Shypkowski said. “It’s wonderful to have that rotation.”

Despite the solid stable of runners, Dickinson’s rushing attack isn’t completely immune and it’s understood by Morris.

That’s why the coach is trying to implement more of a passing game for junior quarterback Dylan Skabo, who has 209 yards, three touchdown passes and two interceptions this season.

“Passing is something we have to do,” Morris said. “As a Wing-T team, we see seven, eight, maybe nine guys in the box at all time. It can be easy to stop our run. We keep good about base run and now we can spread it out a little bit.”

Senior tight end Jordan Krieg leads the team in receiving with seven catches for 90 yards and one TD. Senior Taren Staudinger and junior Levi Jordheim each have five catches and one TD.

The game plan to be a tough defense hasn’t changed.

Other than allowing Gesellchen the 132-yard game last Friday, the Midgets have been able to shut down opposing running attacks for 74 carries on 174 yards, an average of 2.4 yards per carry.

“We’re just going to keep on going hard like have been,” Shypkowski said. “If we keep the intensity up we can do some damage against a lot of the good schools.”

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