VALLEY CITY – Valley City State played its first NSAA conference matchup of the year against Dakota State University on Saturday, Sept. 21st. Valley City entered the matchup 1-1 in non-conference games. Dakota State entered the matchup 3-0 and 1-0 in conference play with a 16-6 victory over the University of Jamestown.

Dakota State played a tough defensive matchup leading them to a 19-8 victory over the Vikings. Scoring first and forcing a safety gave Dakota State a lead that they would hold for the entire game.

Dakota State improves its record to an impressive 4-0 and 2-0 in the conference, while Valley City falls to 1-2 and 0-1 in the conference. The Vikings will see Dakota State one more time this season in Madison, S.D. on Oct. 26.

The first quarter of the game went scoreless with both teams struggling to generate any offense. Early in the second quarter VCSU’s Gavin Gerhardt intercepted DSU’s pass on their own 8-yard line saving a potential scoring drive. Five plays later they punted the ball back to Dakota State. There, Dakota State drove for 12 plays, 7 minutes and 11 seconds capping the first scoring drive of the game with at Tyce Ortman touchdown.

In the next drive, VSCU marched down to the DaSU 22-yard line where they were faced with a fourth-and-2 play. Their rush came up short, turning the ball over on downs. Dakota State closed the first half with another touchdown drive capped with pass to Melek Ford. With the successful PAT, DSU finished the first half with a 14-0 lead.

In the third quarter, both teams had one short drive resulting in punts. In VCSU’s second drive of the half, they were forced to punt snapping the ball from their own 28-yard line. There, an uncontrolled snap was forced out of back of the end zone resulting in a safety.

With a 16-0 lead, DaSU went on to kick a 43-yard field goal in the fourth, extending its lead to 19-0. Late in the fourth quarter, Valley City put together a scoring drive to end the shutout with a Noah Chambers pass to Dominic Stomayor. After a successful 2-point conversion pass to Exavian Westbrook, the Vikings attempted an onside kick. DaSU recovered the onside kick leading to the end of the game with a final score of 19-8.

Noah Chambers was 19-of-28 for 170 yards with a touchdown for Valley City State. Westbrook had seven receptions for 86 yards. Jake Deutsch added four catches for 30 yards.

Gerhardt led VCSU’s defense with nine tackles and an interception return of 27 yards. Loke Iese, Levi Olson, and Georgia Mageo each tallied seven tackles.

Ortman ran 30 times for 162 yards with a touchdown for the Trojans. Collin Brueggeman paced the Trojans’ defense with eight tackles.  Kaden Eng and Taron Serr each added five tackles.

Up next: The Viking football team heads to Mayville, N.D. to take on the Comets on Saturday, Sept. 28.