Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Fort Dodge’s Jamarius Gibbs-Green scores a touchdown Friday night against Storm Lake at Dodger Stadium.
As is often the case during Homecoming Week, a mudslide of mixed emotions and confusion poured into Friday’s Fort Dodge vs. Storm Lake football game.
However, when backed into a corner, the Dodgers had a dominant performance in the trenches, simplifying their 55-26 victory over the Tornadoes at the point of attack.
Fort Dodge extended its winning streak to five for the first time in nine years, rushing for 342 yards with nearly 10 more to go, separating Storm Lake from its vaunted passing attack.
Dodgers senior tailback Jamarius Gibbs-Green broke the 200-yard mark for the second straight season against the Tornados, rushing for 203 yards and three touchdowns in just over half a game. Sophomore teammate Ezra Barkaus took over from there, gaining 115 of his 124 yards in the second half.
Seniors Gavin Pederson and Jackson McKillen, juniors Luke Fielke and Carter Short, and sophomore Joe Constable lead the way up front for Fort Dodge (5-1 overall, District 1 Class 4A). (2-0) controlled the tempo and line of scrimmage. To end an unpredictable day.
“I’m really glad we were able to execute our game plan until the end.” FDSH head coach Nick Moser said. “We knew we had to establish the run and keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible. The jammers did a great job. Ezra came in and got some quality reps for us. ‘s offensive line did what it was supposed to do and created a big hole, especially in the midfield.
“Everything else was pretty shaky. It’s not ‘bad’ (per se), but it needs to improve. This stretch from now on is obviously huge…we have to clear up some things. ”
Gibbs-Green eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for his career in just his 10th start. When the Dodgers’ lineup wasn’t tearing down Storm Lake’s defense and leaving big holes, Gibbs-Green weaved in and out of seemingly dangerous situations with impressive balance and footwork.
It was a tough battle for the Tornadoes (3-3, 1-1) for a while. It was a 21-18 ball game early in the second quarter, but Charlie Dvergsten, the standout signal caller and the state’s leader in both passing and total offense, ran for nearly 200 yards on his first 12-plus. He skipped it and put pressure on Fort Dodge. A few minutes alone.
But slowly but surely the Dodgers took over. They scored 34 of the final 42 points of the contest, but Dvergsten barely reached 100 yards passing on Storm Lake’s final six possessions.
“He’s a really good quarterback and athlete. Exactly as advertised.” Moser said of Dvergsten: “We knew it was going to be hard to contain him coming in, and he’s a threat with his arms and legs. He also has some talented receivers to work with.
“But I thought as things progressed we started to put better pressure on him and forced him to make quicker and tougher decisions.”
Gibbs-Green exploded with touchdown sprints of 34 and 66 yards in the first half, then added 9 yards on pay dirt for a strong performance. Senior Royce Pederson, who was the team’s quarterback last season, hit Dalton Eckley with a 26-yard scoring strike on a fullback pass, and sophomore True McBride connected with Tytrell Mosley for the breakthrough TD. was decided, and the first half ended.
Then the floodgates opened when junior Jesse Egli thundered 82 yards to the end zone on the first kickoff of the second half. Junior Noah Daniel added a 7-yard touchdown on a shovel pass from McBride, and the quarterback ended the onslaught with a final Dodger TD on a keeper with 9:18 left in regulation.
Dvergsten didn’t make many mistakes, but FDSH sophomores Jayce Skow (fumble recovery) and Amalie Pettigrew (interception) both committed turnovers.
McBride was an efficient 15-of-20 for 119 yards. The Dodgers’ offense was just 13 yards shy of 500 yards in the game.
Gibbs-Green and Berkaus are the first Fort Dodge teammates since Jontel Creighton and Dareus Caston on October 2, 2009, to both surpass the century mark in rushing yards on the same night.
After starting 20 of 27 pitches, Dvergsten misfired on 5 of his final 6 pitches. His 307 yards from scrimmage was actually below his season average of 328 yards.
Fort Dodge was penalized 14 times for 135 yards, a number Moser knows won’t last the homestretch.
“We have to focus now and really endure a short week against a quality opponent on the road in Le Mars.”
After completing their 130-mile trip, the Dodgers will face the Bulldogs (3-3, 1-1) this Thursday, but the game was moved up a day due to a lack of referees. Le Mars qualified for the 4A playoffs a year ago with a 7-2 record.
FDSL
First down 22 14
Rush Yards 36-342 12-51
Passing Yards 145 278
Comp-at-Into 16-21-0 21-33-1
Total number of attacks 487 329
Punt average 1-38.0 3-31.0
Lost fumble 1-1 1-1
Penalty Yards 14-135 11-101
Fort Dodge 21 13 14 7 — 55
Storm Lake 12 6 8 0 — 26
Score overview
Storm Lake — Rylan Richardson (4-yard run) with 7:59 left in the first quarter. Kick failed.
FORT DODGE — Jamarius Gibbs-Green (34-yard run) with 3:24 left in the first. Pass failed.
Fort Dodge — Dalton Eckley (26-yard pass from Royce Pederson), left 3:04 first. True McBride runs.
Storm Lake — David William (80-yard pass from Charlie de Bergsten) with 2:52 left in the first. Pass failed.
FORT DODGE — Gibbs-Green (66-yard run), left 1:55 first. Albert Marvold’s kick.
Storm Lake — Richardson (45-yard pass from Dvergsten), 11:10 2nd left. Pass failed.
Fort Dodge — Gibbs-Green (9-yard run), 7:00 second left. Kick failed.
FORT DODGE — Tytrell Mosley (1-yard pass from McBride), left 0:10 second. Marvold kick.
FORT DODGE — Jesse Egli (82-yard kickoff return), 11:46 left third. Marvold kick.
Fort Dodge — Noah Daniel (7-yard pass from McBride), 6:01 left third. Marvold kick.
Storm Lake — Richardson (10-yard pass from Doversgen), left 2:21 third. Cameron Boyd runs.
FORT DODGE — McBride (3-yard run), 9:18, 4th left. Marvold kick.
personal statistics
Rushing — Fort Dodge: Jamarius Gibbs-Green 19-203, Ezra Berkaus 15-124, True McBride 2-15. Storm Lake: Charlie Dvergsten 3-29, Marco Cortez-Oropeza 8-18, Rylan Richardson 1-4, team 1-(minus-2).
Passing — Fort Dodge: True McBride 15-20-0-119, Royce Pederson 1-1-0-26. Storm Lake: Charlie Dvergsten 22-33-1-278, Cameron Boyd 0-1-0-0.
Receiving — Fort Dodge: Tytrell Mosley 5-43, Dalton Eckley 3-30, Jamarius Gibbs-Green 1-22, Noah Daniel 3-20, Collin Tornabain 3-20, Kylie Rochon 1-10. Storm Lake: David William 4-96, Rylan Richardson 6-94, Cameron Boyd 6-75, Garbieno Weno 1-11, Bobby Beckman 2-4, Marco Cortez-Oropeza. 3 wins, 2 losses (minus 2).
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