WATFORD CITY - There were simply too many mistakes and too little time to recover.
Such was the case for the defending state Class AA boys' football champion Dickinson Trinity on Friday evening as opportunistic Watford City claimed a 15-14 victory in a West Region thriller. In what some prognosticators termed an early preview to this year's state title game, fourth-quarter miscues were fatal for the Titans.
"We made too many mistakes all through the game," Trinity head coach Randy Gordon said. "It hurt us and it hurt us bad to make those mistakes. We just made too many mistakes to win a close game like that."
Leading 14-7 after three quarters, Trinity's Brian Marsh fumbled the ball with about 6 minutes left in regulation to give the Wolves the ball on their own 48-yard line. The Titans' defense held strong, however, forcing Watford City to punt from midfield.
Trinity couldn't capitalize on the defensive stop, however, when Titan Jordan Rising mishandled the punt return. Watford City recovered on Trinity's 15-yard line and ultimately saw the Wolves' Scott Samuelson rumble into the end zone from five yards out. Samuelson gave the Wolves the lead when he again found the end zone on the two-point conversion run.
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Trinity started its final drive on its own 23 with 2:09 remaining. The Titans quickly moved to inside the Watford City 40, but it was there the drive stalled. Faced with a fourth-and-11, Titan senior quarterback Tyler Barth's pass fell incomplete to end any hopes of a late rally.
"When you make a mistake, it doesn't matter when it is," Gordon said of the untimely muffed punt. "We all made mistakes that could have been a factor."
Watford City was first to crack the scoreboard in the first quarter when Jamall Wold pulled in a 16-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Kevin Sanford. A Justin Flatland kick made it 7-0 for the hosts.
Marsh then countered in the second quarter with a 1-yard scamper, but the kick by Matt Klug was no good.
In the third quarter, Trinity successfully converted a fake punt as a pitch to Rising moved the ball to the Watford City 44 to keep the drive alive.
Barth gave the Titans their only lead when he found Scott Murphy for a 39-yard touchdown strike. Barth's 2-yard pass to Dan Carr completed the two-point conversion to give Trinity a 14-7 edge.
"That did a lot of good for us there," Gordon said of taking the lead thanks to the fake punt. "At that time it felt right to take a risk. The field position was good enough to take that."
But then came the back-to-back Trinity miscues to set up the Wolves' winning score.
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"You have to give them some credit too. The put some drives together," Gordon said of Watford City.
Trinity had 217 yards rushing on 45 carries, while the Wolves earned 120 yards rushing on 36 attempts. Carr and Marsh each had 78 yards rushing, while Samuelson had 60 yards and K.C. Knudtson added 51 yards rushing for Watford City.
Trinity added 125 yards in the air to just 29 for Watford City. Barth was 11 of 18 passing while Sandford was three of seven in the air.
"There's a lot of season left," Gordon said despite the loss. "We have to take something positive out of it. If they have character, it depends on how they react to it. I believe in these kids and they will bounce back.
"Who knows, we may meet up with (Watford City) again."
