The Dickinson State football team wanted to forget its season-opening loss to Rocky Mountain College as fast as possible.
Preparing for Saturday's Badlands Activities Center opener against Wisconsin-Whitewater has done the trick.
The Warhawks are the consensus No. 2-ranked team in NCAA Division III and have reached the Stagg Bowl -- D-III's national title game -- the past four seasons and won the championship in 2007.
They return 18 starters and an All-American senior kicker, who is already Division III's all-time leading field goal kicker.
Still, the Blue Hawks aren't shaking in their cleats.
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"You go into it looking at it like they're still another team," DSU senior running back Zach Hepperle said. "Anything can happen, just like last week."
Last week, Kasey Peters, one of the NAIA's top quarterbacks, picked apart the Blue Hawks for 421 yards passing while throwing four touchdowns and leading Rocky Mountain to a 28-7 victory.
"The first thing we're looking for is improved play over this past week and the second thing you want to do is win the ball game," DSU coach Hank Biesiot said.
The Blue Hawks have been working on their game plan since Tuesday and began fixing their miscues from the Rocky Mountain game on Sunday.
Hepperle said one key for DSU to stay competitive with the Warhawks -- not to mention stave off an embarrassing loss against arguably one of the best teams the school has ever scheduled -- is to show improvement on the offensive side of the football.
"The biggest thing is the offense didn't put points on the board like we'd hoped," Hepperle said.
Making sure receiver Clint Grosz is on the field could help that cause.
Grosz left the Rocky Mountain game in the first quarter after taking a helmet to his left ribs on a play where he dropped a catch.
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Grosz coughed up blood after the incident and was taken to the hospital during the game for X-rays.
However, the 6-foot-3 senior from Mott said Tuesday after practice that he intends on playing Saturday, calling it a game he doesn't want to miss.
"I'm just going to ice it and rest it as much as I can at the beginning of the week," Grosz said. "Game day, I'll just get padded up as much as I can and tough it out."
