Dickinson High meets Jamestown for spot in state duals tournament

• Clayton Tangen

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson sophomore Clayton Tangen, left, attempts to take down Watford City’s Austin Garmann during the Dickinson Classic on Dec. 15 at DHS gymnasium. Tangen won the match in a 9-5 decision.

Talk about it

When the season started, Dickinson High co-head wrestling coach Pete Dobitz marked Jan. 17 on the calendar.

It was for a good reason too.

The Midgets travel to Jamestown for a West Region dual at 6 p.m. today. A win for Dickinson means a trip to the North Dakota Class A state dual tournament.

“This is the dual we’ve been talking about all year,” Dobitz said. “From day one in the room, we knew that this was one of the teams that we were going to have to beat to make it to the dual tournament.”

A loss, on the other hand, would push Dickinson down to the fifth spot in the standings, which means the team would have to beat Bismarck Century if it hopes to make the state dual tournament.

“If we don’t win this dual, we are going to have a tough time making it to the dual tournament,” Dobitz said. “It comes down to what we’ve been talking about.”

The Midgets can’t wait to get back on the mat, especially after a tough weekend in Montana. Dickinson had one placer — sophomore Austin Hutzenbiler — take sixth at the Cowboy Classic on Saturday in Miles City, Mont. On Friday, the Midgets took a 72-12 dual loss against Sidney, Mont.

“We are eager,” Dickinson junior Devin Berger said. “We have a pretty solid enough team that we can do some damage in Jamestown.”

Hutzenbiler and Berger have been the Midgets’ two mainstays for the last two seasons. Berger, who finished fourth at 120 pounds in the North Dakota Class A state tournament last year, could possibly meet the competitor he saw in that third-place match in Jamestown senior Jaden Horsted, who defeated Berger at the Bismarck Civic Center in a 6-2 decision.

“Win we’re in and lose you’re out,” Berger said. “This is a pretty important dual. We just have to come prepared.”

Despite the tough weekend, Dobitz is still very much pleased with the team’s progression this season. The Midgets have a team with three seniors, five juniors, two sophomores, four freshmen and one eighth-grader.

“We’re happy with season thus far, yet we are seeing what young teams go through,” Dobitz said. “We are seeing inconsistency. That’s what you expect out of young teams.

“Our learning curve is good. We are doing well in learning a lot. This weekend will be a good opportunity to show exactly what we’ve learned.”

Trinity gears up for first district game against Hazen

Since three straight losses in late December and early January to three high-quality teams — including No. 1 ranked Minot Ryan — the Dickinson Trinity girls basketball team is now on a three-game win streak.

Trinity head coach Alysia Barman said her team enters the most important part of its schedule — District 14 time.

“We’ve played a lot of good teams this year and people have talked about how big of games they were, because we were playing ranked opponents,” Barman said. “I told the kids these next games are the most important games. Your goals are center around these games.”

The Titans (6-4) open their District 14 play against Hazen at 7 p.m. today at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

Freshman Alana Sickler leads Trinity with 10 points per game, while junior Rachel Jahner averages 9.9. However, the biggest ascension in the last three games has been from Kennedy Keator. The freshman guard is averaging 13 points in the last three games.

“The biggest thing with Kennedy to start out the year was understanding our defensive velocity,” Barman said. “She’s really come along that way. She’s doing things both offensively and defensively. Right now with her coming off the bench, she’s really the spark plug.”

The Titans are averaging 42.9 points per contest, while giving up 52. In Trinity’s last three games, the team has given up 36.7 points and scoring 58.3.

“We’re doing some things so much better defensively,” Barman said. “We’ve made a lot of strides defensively. We’ve went through some adversity and learned to pick ourselves up.”

Ashton Carter, a junior guard, leads the Bison (4-3) with 12 points per game, while the team is scoring 48.3 and allowing 53.2.

DHS boys hockey looks to rebound after tough loss

The Dickinson boys hockey team was off to a better start than it had in years.

The Midgets were winning, scoring goals and had the top two goaltenders in the state.

Fast forward nearly two months later and Dickinson has fallen on tough times. The Midgets are averaging just one goal per game and are on a four-game losing skid.

Dickinson, however, looks to get back on track when it hosts Bottineau-Rugby at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Dickinson Recreation Center. The Midgets lost to Jamestown 6-0 on Tuesday.

“I hope the guys come away from this knowing how hard they have to work to be a better hockey team,” Dickinson head coach Tom Folske said.

The Midgets defeated the Braves 6-5 in a shootout win on Dec. 1 in Bottineau.

Sophomores Mickey Folske and Matt Pavek lead Dickinson with 29 combined points. Senior Brendin Steiner has nine points, while sophomores Kass Dvorak and Andrew Heckaman each have eight points.

Dickinson will have to watch out for the top two scorers in North Dakota, Braves junior Harrison Aide and senior Cody Longie. The two have combined for 78 points, including 27 goals. Bottineau-Rugby also has sophomore Luke Amsbaugh, who ranks fifth in state scoring with 16 goals and 13 assists.

“Harrison is a good hockey player,” Tom Folske said. “They’ve got a couple good hockey players on that team. We just have to take care of business.”

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