Lumberjacks win home opener

In a game where the final score was a lot closer than it should have been, the DCB Lumberjack football team escaped Les Christian Field with a 41-34 victory over Vermilion Community College on Saturday afternoon in Bottineau.  VCC has given the Lumberjacks all they could handle in each of the last 3 years and Saturday was no exception.

DCB scored the first two touchdowns of the game on runs by Art Nelson and Antoine Burgess to take a 12-0 lead.  VCC responded with an 85 yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to cut the lead to 12-6.  Later in the stanza Cedric Fields took advantage of a Vermilion miscue on a punt to return it 79 yards for a score.  A 2 point conversion to Ricky Griffin from Antoine Burgess gave the Lumberjacks a 20-6 lead at halftime, seemingly under control.

In the third quarter, VCC returned two Lumberjack passes back for touchdowns to tie the game at 20 before DCB scored twice before the quarter ended to take a 34-20 lead into the fourth.  Another wild quarter saw VCC’s quarterback escape several tackles and run 53 yards for a score and then lead the Ironmen down the field to tie the game up with 9 minutes to go.  DCB’s final winning scoring drive came on a long pass from Antoine Burgess to Jacob Clair and then a touchdown run by Art Nelson to provide the final margin of victory.

The Lumberjacks responded well from the defeat in week one, but made numerous mistakes and penalties which cost them.  We will have to cut down on all of our mistakes in order to defeat Northland CTC next weekend in Thief River Falls.  Northland is currently 2-0 and playing well.

Game time next week is 2:00 in Minnesota, then DCB returns for 3 consecutive home games, including homecoming against Minnesota State-Fergus Falls on the 17^th.