Pirates battle for win

Pirates battle for win
Class D No. 2 Dodge holds off No. 4 Clarkson 8-6
By TOM BEHMER

Jonathan Bos has Corbin Hamernik's back during Friday night's game in Dodge.
  
    DODGE - Jacob Kreikemeier made a costly mistake early in the second half here Friday.
    But the Dodge senior made up for it to help lead Class D No. 2 Dodge to an 8-6 win over No. 4 Clarkson.
     "We knew what we were up against and we battled," Kreikemeier said.  "We battled hard, and so did they."
    On the first play of the second half, Kreikemeier appeared to be on his way to a first-down run when he coughed up the ball.  Clarkson's Eric Brabec recovered the fumble on the Dodge 22-yard line.
    Four plays later, Brabec ran the ball straight up the middle from five yards out to give the Red Devils a 6-0 lead with 10:23 left in the third quarter.
    But with 2:44 left, Kreikemeier found Bryan Ruzek on a 19-yard pass on a third-and-17 play to tie the score.  Kreikemeier added the two-point conversion on the ground to give the Pirates the lead.
    With the clocking ticking down and Dodge clinging to the 8-6 lead in the game's final minute, Kreikemeier deflected two passes deep in Pirate territory to preserve the win.
    "I was so mad at myself (after the fumble), but I knew I'd get it back on defense," Kreikemeier said.  "If I would've gotten down after that our team probably would have crumbled."
    "After a kneel-down by the Pirate quarterback ran the final seconds off the clock, Dodge coach Ron Lund said he was shocked.
    It wasn't the outcome that shocked him, but the fact that the Pirates defense was salty enough to hold a team that came in averaging 62 points per game to just one touchdown.
    "I was really proud of our defense.  My biggest fear was Clarkson just running over us with their size and their speed," he said.  "They did it at times, but our guys were able to step up and make plays when they really needed to."
    With 9:47 remaining in the game, it appeared as though the Red Devils had regained the lead, as Michael Konicek found the end zone from 26 yards out.  But Clarkson was called for an illegal block in the back.
    After a 5-yard pass play from quarterback Brandon Dinslage to Brabec, Kreikemeier intercepted a pass at the Pirate 9-yard line and returned it 36 yards to secure the lead for the Pirates.
    "We're not used to facing that adversity, and we can usually overcome that stuff," Clarkson coach Jim Clarkson said.  "It was a good lesson for our kids to realize that we can't make those mistakes in big games.  Against a good team like Dodge, it won't cut it."
    Still, the Red Devils had the Dodge defense on its heels again after forcing a turnover on downs with 1:45 left.
    But Ruzek grabbed the momentum by the horns with a quarterback sack, forcing Clarkson into a third-and-10 situation at the Dodge 32 with 49 seconds left.
    That's when Kreikemeier stepped up again, breaking up a pair of passes inside the 15-yard line to seal the win.
    Kreikemeier finished the game with 128 yards and a touchdown on 8-of-15 passing, as the Red Devils limited Dodge to just 114 yards rushing on 37 carries.
    "Our first game, we only passed for three yards," Kreikemeier said.  "That's the thing, we can pass, and I hope teams respect that."
    Ruzek caught five of Kreikemeier's passes for 76 yards.
    On the other side of the ball, Clarkson pounded out 186 rushing yards on 44 carries.  Brabec led the way with 119 yards on 23 carries.  Konicek added 70 yards on 17 carries.
    "These guys work real hard.  We came up short on the scoreboard, but they fought and they battled," Clarkson said.  "If we get better from it, it's kind of a victory...They're a good football team."
    After surviving a 26-24 battle with Class D1 powerhouse Bancroft-Rosalie last week, Lund was just happy to be standing again this week.
    "That's a big win for our season.  It's a big step for us," Lund said.  "I'm proud of the way our players stood up and fought hard against-to be honest-a physically dominant team like Clarkson."

Clarkson   0   0   6   0   -   6
Dodge       0   0   8   0   -   8

Scoring summary
THIRD QUARTER
CLA:  Eric Brabec 5 run (PAT failed), 10:23.
DOD:  Bryan Ruzek 19 pass from Jacob Kreikemeier (Kreikemeier run), 2:44.

	CLA	DOD
First downs	11	10
Rushes-yards	44-186	37-114
Passing	3-11-1	8-15-1
Passing yards	18	128
Fumbles-lost	3-1	3-2
Penalties-yards	5-35	4-30
Punts-average	2-39.5	1-14.0

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING:  CLA:  Eric Brabec 23-119, Michael Konicek 17-70.  DOD:  Chris Tomasek 14-36, Jeff Ruskamp 13-40, Jacob Kreikemeier 10-38.
PASSING:  CLA:  Brandon Dinslage 3-11-1, 18.  DOD:  Kreikemeier 8-15-1, 128.
RECEIVING:  CLA:  Brabec 2-10, Corbin Hamernik 1-8.  DOD:  Bryan Ruzek 5-76, Kurt Ortmeier 2-20, Danny Hassler 1-32.

(from Norfolk Daily News, 9/15/07)