Tuesday night, the Trinity football team played under the lights of the Biesiot Activities Center for the last time this season.
But the lights seemed a little dimmer, as the Titans lost their final home game to Watford City 26-13 in a Class 2A, West Region game.
"Watford City is a good team and they played well and they can pound the ball well with the best of them and coach (Fred) Fridley has them prepped up," Trinity head coach John Odermann said.
In the first half, Watford City (6-2, 4-2 West) dominated the field, holding possession for 17 minutes, 17 seconds and limiting Trinity to 28 total yards. Senior tight end Brandon Allex scored two rushing touchdowns, one in the first quarter and one in the second, as he rumbled to 385 yards on 55 carries.
"It's the big plays that are killing us," junior running back Coltyn Nelson said. "We go through a period of time where it's 6 or 7 minutes and we just kind of take a step back and that's when teams really take advantage."
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Offensively, the Titans (0-8, 0-6 West) couldn't gain momentum. Trinity finished with just 178 total yards, 45 of which came on the ground. Nelson was held to 15 carries for 31 yards on the night.
"They stopped the run," said junior wide receiver Joe Mayer, who had five catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. "We really didn't have any running game tonight we just couldn't get anything started on the ground game."
Trinity's defense saved the game from being a blowout and kept its halftime deficit to 14-0.
In the second half, the Titans' defense caused four Watford City fumbles. They recovered three but couldn't convert any into points.
"Our defense was really the key tonight," Odermann said. "We haven't went into many games when it was only a 14-point game at halftime. I said to the kids at halftime, 'We're right into this one because we have an offense that can be explosive at times and we've got to give our offense an opportunity to win,' and that's what our defense did tonight.
"We didn't come out with the win, but we did what we had to do on the defensive side of the ball to give us a chance to win."
For the Wolves, it was all about the running game and Allex.
Fridley, in his 42nd season, said Allex's carries total was a school record.
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"I think, offensively, we ran the ball really well," Fridley said. "Our tailback Brandon Allex had a big game. ... The last couple weeks we changed our offense to an I (formation) and just giving it to the tailback and letting him get what he can get. He's a pretty durable player and the kind of gamer that doesn't really go down on one hit and always goes forward and gets extra yardage for us. We'll just keep feeding him the ball and see what we can do."
The Titans have a week and a half to prepare for their next game against winless Stanley-Powers Lake. The team is already thinking ahead and hopes a tough game against the Blue Jays will give them a positive force to ride into the beginning of next season.
"We want to get this one," Mayer said. "We're not going to give up. We're going to play this game like all our other games, if not harder than any of them. It's the last one and we got to finish strong and get some momentum going into next year."
Nelson added: "Game to game, we've never backed down or hang our heads."
Watford City 26, Dickinson Trinity 13
WC 8 6 6 6 -- 26
Trinity 0 0 6 7 -- 13
First quarter
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WC-Brandon Allex 12 run (Allex run)
Second quarter
WC-Allex 4 run (run failed)
Third quarter
T-Joe Mayer 69 pass from Willy Jahner (pass failed)
WC-Allex 69 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
WC-Allex 5 run (kick failed)
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T-Mayer 10 pass from Jahner (Alex Scherr kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: WC, Brandon Allex 55-385, Keegen Thompson 13-29, Dalton Wright 1-8. T, Coltyn Nelson 15-31, Willy Jahner 4-12, Justin Meyer 2-3, Joseph Mayer 1-2, Connor Friske 2-(-3).
PASSING: WC, Keegen Thompson 0-3-0. T,
Willy Jahner 8-18-0 101 yards 2 TDs, Connor Friske 2-6-0 32 yards.
RECEIVING: WC, none. T, Mayer 5-120, Nelson 2-4, Friske 1-5, Meyer 1-2, Ty Nordby 1-2.
