John Ganschow | Contributor
The final regular season home game for the Beresford Watchdogs took place on Friday, October 3, in a gritty game against the Dakota Valley Panthers.
BHS received the opening kickoff starting on their own 25-yard line and drove the ball down to the Panthers 10, but unfortunately gave up the ball with 10:42 left to play in the 1stquarter.
Dakota Valley took advantage of the mistake and drove nearly the entire field and scored with 6:01 left in the first quarter. The remaining first half was quiet for the Panthers only scoring on a field goal in the second quarter. The Dawgs got on the board with just 49 seconds left in the first half when QB Ashton Oberle found 6’5” senior wide receiver Tiegen Nyhaug for a 7-yard TD pass. Going into half-time, DV led 10-7.
DV received the 2nd half kickoff and turned the ball over on downs on their own 30 and Beresford capitalized with Oberle going to Nyhaug again for a 19-yard TD pass with 9:56 left in the 3rd quarter, giving BHS the lead 14-10. Unfortunately, the Panthers took their next possession from their own 35-yard line and scored with 5:22 left in the 3rd quarter, making the score 17-14. That is what the final score would be as both teams went scoreless in the 4th quarter.
Nyhaug led all offensive stats with 9 receptions for 77 yards and 2 TDs. Malachi James had 2 catches for 48 yards and Ian Henderson had 1 reception for 27 yards. Oberle went 17 for 25 through the air for a total of 163 yards passing and 2 TDs. Oberle led the rushing attack with 13 attempts for 68 yards, Hayden Schilling also contributed 3 rushes for 15 yards.
The Dawgs’ defense was led by Senior Malachi James with 11 solo tackles and 1 assisted tackle. Junior Hayden Homandberg contributed 6 solos, 5 assists, and 1 sack for a loss of 7 yards. Sophomore Landry Simms also had a big game with 8 solos and 5 assists. Other contributors were Ian Henderson, Ashton Oberle, Tate Lyle, Micah James, Dexton Miller and Kasen Voss.
The squad will travel to Volga on Friday, October 10th to face the 3-3 Sioux Valley Cossacks.