The Dickinson High football team needed a win for its first winning season since 2007.
The Midgets didn’t waste any time making sure the win was within sight.
Plus with Halloween right around the corner, the Midgets pulled off a little trickery.
In Dickinson’s first play from scrimmage, Dylan Skabo caught a reverse from Michael Cherwinski and threw a 46-yard strike to Levi Jordheim. On the next play, Cherwinski scored the Midgets’ first touchdown.
“(John) Tuchscherer drew up that play at practice and he was pretty excited about it,” Skabo said. “He told us that was going to be our first play of the game. We ran it. Levi was wide open and just threw it to him and he caught it.”
From there, Dickinson rolled with its momentum and rattled off 42 first-half points en route to a 56-0 win over Williston on Friday at the Biesiot Activities Center.
“We talked about all week having some fun and playing with some pride,” Dickinson head coach John Tuchscherer said. “We just wanted to put something in that they could have fun with and it came up with something. It sparked us and we really didn’t look back from there.”
Though a majority of familiar faces scored TDs, the Midgets had two new players scored their first varsity TDs of the season.
William Schwindt and Carter Blackwell each scored their first touchdowns of the season in the second quarter. Schwindt, who had one carry in the first half, had a 46-yard run for a TD. Blackwell caught a 5-yard TD pass from Andrew Heckaman.
“It was a great way to end the season,” Schwindt said with a smile. “We wanted to end the season on a win and we gave it everything we had.”
Not only was Dickinson’s offense rolling, but took advantage of nearly every Williston turnover. The Coyotes accounted for six turnovers and the Midgets scored on five of them.
“Turnovers always take you out of your game,” Williston head coach Jim Klein said. “Injuries got us early too. That took a lot of offensive stuff that we had.”
Skabo grabbed two of the Midgets’ four interceptions against Williston starting quarterback Dillon Brunelle.
Heckaman, who went 6 of 11 for 73 yards, completed TD strikes to Skabo for 29 yards and Judson Mork for 20 yards in the first half. The junior quarterback also rushed for a 1-yard TD for the team’s second score of the game. Cherwinski ended the game with 119 yards and two TDs, which gave him back-to-back games with 100 or more rushing yards.
Though the season for the Midgets didn’t end in a trip to the playoffs, the team isn’t disappointed ending the season with a win.
“Anytime you aren’t going to be going to the playoffs is tough,” Tuchscherer said. “It would be really easy to roll over, but that’s a testament to these seniors and their leadership. They came out and wanted to win. Anytime you can win five football games in a year and can be over .500 it’s a good season. Is it everything that we wanted it be? No. There are things that we would have liked to get done, but sometimes things don’t turn out your way. I wouldn’t trade these guys for anybody else. They are a great group of guys and I’m really proud of them.”
For Skabo and the rest of the seniors, who were taking photos after the game to commemorate the season, he said it’s hard knowing this is the last time he’s stepping off the football field as a Dickinson High player.
“We had higher expectations than this, but sometimes it doesn’t work out,” he said. “Not making is tough, but ending the season on a win and being over .500 feels great.”
Schwindt added: “It’s crazy. The season went by fast.”
Williston 0 0 0 0 - 0
Dickinson 21 21 7 7 - 56
First quarter
D–Michael Cherwinski 1 run (Tony Kostelecky kick), 8:17
D–Andrew Heckaman 1 run (Kostelecky kick), 2:48
D–Heckaman 20 pass to Judson Mork (Kostelecky kick), 2:02
Second quarter
D–Heckaman 5 pass to Carter Blackwell (Kostelecky kick), 8:32
D–William Schwindt 46 run (Kostelecky kick), 4:31
D–Heckaman 29 pass to Dylan Skabo (Kostelecky kick), :02
Third quarter
D–Cherwinski xx run (Kostelecky kick), 8:19
Fourth quarter
D–Charles Splichal 24 run (Kostelecky kick), 10:31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: W, Dillon Brunelle 17-50, Brady Miller 8-10, Austin Arndt 8-8, TEAM 1-0, DJ Taylor 3-0. D, Michael Cherwinski 20-119, William Schwindt 2-47, Charles Splichal 44, Dylan Skabo 3-26.
PASSING: W, Brunelle 8-18-4, 79. D, Heckaman 6-11-0, 73; Skabo 1-1-0, 46
RECEIVING: W, Miller 4-22, Hyrum Gentry 2-21, Bryan Langager 1-21, Arndt 1-15. D, Levi Jordheim 1-46, Skabo 1-29, Judson Mork 1-20, Cherwinski 1-12.
