Lumberjacks reclaim the "Lumbercat" Trophy with huge come from behind victory

The DCB Lumberjacks football team rallied from a 21 point deficit with 5 minutes to go in the first half for a 30-27 victory over the North Dakota State College of Science on Saturday at Les Christian Field.  Although records are not that complete, the three touchdown deficit is quite probably the largest margin the Lumberjacks have ever come back from.

DCB had never beaten NDSCS until 2013, but since then they hold a 3-2 edge in the games played between the only two junior college football programs in North Dakota.  Saturday’s win was the first time ever that DCB had beaten the Wildcats in Bottineau.

NDSCS jumped out to a 20-0 lead on several big plays and led 27-6 with about 5 minutes to go in the first half before the Lumberjacks started to climb back into the game.  A 25 yard touchdown run by Art Nelson and a 5 yard touchdown pass from Ja’Vonte Johnson to Jacob Clair on the last play of the first half gave the Jacks the momentum as Science still led 27-18 at halftime.  The DCB Defense, victimized often with big plays in the first 25 minutes of the game, held an offense that was averaging 45 points a game scoreless for the rest of the way, coming up with several big stops.  DCB cut the lead to 27-24 early in the third quarter, but the score stayed that way until a big punt return by D’Ante Goodwin gave the Lumberjacks the ball at the NDSCS 40 with about 3 minutes left.  DCB marched down and John Jones kicked a 24 yard field goal to tie the game with 40 seconds left.  On the next possession, ND Science tried a pass to the flat that freshman DCB linebacker Trent Postma intercepted and returned 30 yards to the Science 5 yard line with 9 seconds left.  After trying one play, John Jones came in and hit the game winning field goal with 1.9 seconds left and the Lumberjacks made the tackle on the seceding kickoff to seal the victory.

With the win, DCB improves to 2-2 in the division and 3-3 overall, setting up another big game at Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota on October 8^th.  DCB still has an outside chance to win the division, but if they win out they will have a good chance at getting a home game in the MCAC playoffs.  However, they could also still miss the playoffs, so every game is essentially a playoff game from now on.