The Valley City State University football team delivered head football coach Dennis McCulloch his 100th career win on Saturday, going on the road and taking down the Dickinson State Blue Hawks, 33-21.
Valley City State improves to 3-1 on the season. McCulloch, who is in his 18th season as head coach at VCSU, sees his career record improve to 100-76. During his tenure, the Vikings have won five conference championships and he has won five conference coach of the year awards.
The milestone win did not come easy Saturday for the Vikings, as they fell behind 7-0 after the first quarter. Facing a stiff wind, VCSU's passing offense was shut down for the first 15 minutes. Going with the wind in the second quarter, the Vikings rallied with 14 points on a touchdown run by Ian Keller and a touchdown catch by tight end Jake Miller.
Kurtis Walls hit Antoine Griffin for a 14-yard score in the third quarter, capping a streak of 20 straight points by the Vikings and putting them up 20-7.
Dickinson would rally and the teams traded scores before the Blue Hawks cut the Viking lead to 26-21 with five minutes left. The Vikings faced a fourth-and-three on the Blue Hawk 10-yard line with 1:30 remaining, and elected to go for it instead of kicking a field goal. The gamble paid off as Walls hit Griffin for his third touchdown of the day, which sealed the 33-21 non-conference win.
Walls completed just 13 passes for 126 yards, but he made the most of those completions by hooking up with receivers on four touchdowns. Griffin was on the receiving end of three touchdowns, and caught five passes for 65 yards. Zach Johnson had four catches for 32 yards, and Jake Miller caught two passes, including a second-quarter touchdown.
Running back Ian Keller had his heaviest workload of the season, carrying the ball a career-high 29 times for 90 yards and a touchdown. Walls gained 59 yards on the ground on six carries, and Trevor Goerts had six carries for 19 yards.
Linebacker Nick McBeain had his second straight huge defensive game, tallying 20 total tackles and two tackles for loss. That follows up a 19-tackle performance last week at Dakota State.
Defensive back Andre Peppers had his best game as a Viking by making 12 tackles, forcing and recovering a fumble, intercepting a pass and breaking up another pass. Linebacker Ethen Preston added 14 tackles.
Up next: VCSU (3-1, 1-0 NSAA) re-enters conference play next Saturday with a road game at University of Jamestown. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27 in Jamestown. The two teams will be playing for the Paint Bucket Trophy, which VCSU currently holds after a 31-7 victory over the Jimmies on Aug. 28. Saturday is also Jamestown's homecoming game.
