Football: Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks take another crack at mighty Minneota Vikings

Nov. 3—MARSHALL — Cory Larson kept his post-game speech short in Week 8.The Dawson-Boyd football team lost 28-21 to Class A powerhouse Minneota. It was the one time the Vikings have been tested this season. They're averaging 49.8 points per game and allowing just 8.2."The first thing I said to our team ... was that nothing that just happened in that game took away from the belief that we can beat them," said Larson, the Blackjacks' head coach. "We proved to ourselves that it's there. If we clean a few things up on offense and defense, it can possibly be a different outtcome."Dawson-Boyd has its chance for a different outcome in the Section 4A championship. The Blackjacks and Vikings face off at 2 p.m. Friday at Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center on the Southwest Minnesota State University campus.Dawson-Boyd has an 8-2 record and is the second seed in 4A.Minneota is 9-0 and the top seed. That's just the tip of the iceberg.The Vikings have won four consecutive Class A championships. They're on a 55-game win streak. That ranks third nationally behind Carl Albert High School in Oklahoma (62) and Royal High School in Washington (57).The last team to beat Minneota was Dawson-Boyd back on Oct. 19, 2022."They execute their material so, so well," Larson said of the Vikings. "Their level of discipline is so much different than your typical Class A team. There's nobody that compares to it."It's a strong tradition. They understand how to win and they develop talent year after year. The coaching staff is phenomenal."Dawson-Boyd hit a pair of big scoring plays against Minneota in the Week 8 matchup. Jaxton Hastad opened the scoring with a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown. In the second quarter, quarterback Carson Stratmoen found Colten Bothun for a 53-yard TD pass. The Blackjacks tied it at 21-21 in the fourth quarter with a two-yard Aedyn Dahl rushing TD.Minneota put the game away with a 27-yard TD run from Randy Sorensen.Sorensen is the Vikings' top rusher with 813 yards and 13 touchdowns on 107 carries. Quinton Anderson follows up with 364 yards and six scores on 45 attempts. Quarterback Tristen Sussner completes 67.1% of his passes for 1,495 yards, 24 touchdowns and four interceptions. Landon Esping is his top receiver with 539 yards and eight touchdowns on 32 catches.Dawson-Boyd has its own pair of dynamic runners. Bothun has 944 yards and 14 touchdowns on 92 carries. Dahl has compiled 692 yards and nine touchdowns on 92 attempts."Both have been solid throughout the season," Larson said. "Colten's really dynamic. He can do a lot of things and he's very explosive. He's a great blocker but also a great runner. Aedyn has good speed. He kind of got dinged up halfway through the season. It felt like Saturday (a 56-13 win over Canby), he was running the ball healthier."You can't forget about the guys up front. They've done an excellent job all season. We have four senior offensive linemen that brought back good size, strength and knowledge of the game that kind of helped produce a solid run game for us throughout the season."Stratmoen was hurt during the Week 8 game against Minneota and missed the 4A opener against Yellow Medicine East. He played a quarter-and-a-half against Canby. Larson said he'll be ready to go on Friday.Dawson-Boyd has also played through tragedy late in the season. Carter Monaghan, a senior on the Blackjacks' football team, died in a car accident on Oct. 10, one day after Dawson-Boyd beat MACCRAY in a Week 6 game."It was certainly a difficult time that I wish no family, no community, no team had to go through," Larson said. "The guys have rallied around it and definitely in the last few weeks have played for Carter."The Blackjacks have stickers on their helmets honoring Monaghan. His number 64 jersey has been on the sideline on game day."We're trying to keep him with us knowing that he's still part of the team," Larson said.Now, that team is hoping to knock off a juggernaut on Friday afternoon."It's no easy task, certainly," Larson said, "but I feel like our guys are gonna be up for the challenge."