A superior effort carried the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines to a convincing 37-19 win over rival Staples-Motley Friday and pinned up their first victory of the 2017 season.
Coming off a tough 40-0 loss to a powerful Pillager squad the Wolverines put together their best game of the season before a partisan crowd in their final regular season home game of the year.
Jake Dykhoff broke off two scoring runs and connected with Preston Warren and Ryan Anderson on scoring aerials as the Wolverines won for the first time since Oct. 14 of last year when they beat Staples-Motley 27-20 on three Dykhoff touchdowns.
Friday night’s game started on WDC’s second offensive series when Dykhoff teamed up with Warren for a 31-yard scoring pass.
After Staples-Motley tied the game with a 14-yard strike in the first quarter from Josh Lombard to Mason Nyhus on a slant route, the Wolverines rode the hard-running of Matt Goeden 65 yards for six. Dykhoff scored his first rushing touchdown of the contest from 19 yards out.
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Lombard made a costly mistake on Staples-Motley’s first possession of the second quarter when he threw into heavy traffic. Colby Schertler stepped in front of his target and returned the ball to Staples-Motley’s 25. Four plays later Goeden cashed in on a seven-yard plunge. Goeden was WDC’s top ground gainer with 126 yards on 18 attempts.
No one was happier when Goeden’s hard-nosed running performance than Dykhoff, who tossed only nine passes in the victory.
“We were excited for this one,” Dykhoff said. “Give the offensive line credit for this one. They did an amazing job.”
A fumble recovery by Max Phillips set up WDC’s final touchdown of the first half. Dykhoff hooked up with Warren on a 70-yard gainer that took the ball to the six. Three plays later Dykhoff scored on a one-yard keeper.
The WDC defense held the Cardinals scoreless in the third quarter while Dykhoff pulled off a clutch TD by converting on fourth down and long yardage at Staples-Motley’s 24 with a pass to Anderson.
Staples-Motley kept plugging away in the fourth quarter and Lombard connected on touchdowns of 20 and 40 yards to Chase Davis.
“We practiced great and we played great,” WDC Head Coach Howie Kangas said. “We put everything together. It just started to mesh.”
The 1-6 Wolverines have a road trip scheduled Wednesday to Long Prairie where they will face the Thunder in a 7 p.m. game.
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The Cardinals dropped to 2-5.
Staples-Motley 7 0 0 12 - 19
Wadena-Deer Creek 15 15 7 0 - 37
S-M: Mason Nyhus 14 yd pass from Josh Lombard (PAT kick), Chase Davis 20 yd pass from Lombard (PAT failed), Davis 40 yd pass from Lombard (PAT failed
WDC: Preston Warren 31 yd pass from Jake Dykhoff (PAT Tobias Grillmeier kick), Dykhoff 19 yd run (PAT Matt Goeden run), Goeden 7 yd run (PAT Dykhoff run), Dykhoff 1 yd run (PAT Grillmeier kick), Ryan Anderson 24 yd pass from Dykhoff (PAT Grillmeier kick)
S-M WDC
First Downs 16 13
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Yards Rushing 70 179
Yards Passing 204 130
Total Yards 274 309
Passes 16-27 4-9
Intercepted by 0 2
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 3-15 6-26
