Velva wins Dakota Bowl 32 Division A Championship
Nov 15, 2024
FARGO, ND (KXNET) — The Velva Aggies took home the title against Kindred in the Division A Championship, winning for the second time in three years. Here are all the updates for the Division A Championship match between the Kindred Vikings and the Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison Aggies. To see the full schedule of games, head over to our Game Central page.
1ST QTR
The Aggies received the opening kickoff at the two-yard-line, but gained some space on a quarterback scramble by Ben Schepp. Keeping the ball on the ground, they got all the way to midfield, but two sacks and an incomplete pass later, Velva was forced to punt.
Kindred returned it all the way to their own 48, setting themselves up with excellent field position. After a few plays got them in Aggies territory, Jake Starcevic broke a few tackles to get them down to the 24. They made their way into the redzone, where Velva kept them at bay with two tackles for a loss. The Vikings then picked up the first down, and took an early lead with a touchdown from Starcevic. They missed the extra point.
Velva returned the kickoff to about the 30, and got to midfield on a pass, converting on third down. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Starcevic bailed Velva out, and they quickly got to the 23-yard-line as the quarter expired.
2ND QTR
The Aggies got inside the redzone, but a couple stuffs by Kindred made it 4th & 1. Velva went for it, but came up short.
The Vikings got the ball from their own 14, but made little progress. On third down, under immense pressure, the Viking quarterback threw a pick, and it was taken to the 25. Velva equalized on a passing touchdown to Reggie Bruner, who broke a few tackles to get to the endzone. The Aggies failed their two-point attempt.
On the next drive, penalties once again hindered Kindred, this time in the form of a holding call on 3rd & 2. The next pass was broken up, leading to a 4th down punt.
Kindred then forced a Velva punt, but on the very next drive, threw another pick, this time to Ben Schepp. The Aggies made nothing of the opportunity this time, and punted back, setting up Kindred at the Aggies' 45.
A low pass was completed to the 30 with 1:29 remaining in the half. Starcevic completed another pass on third down to get the Vikings down to the 16 with 24 seconds left. The Aggies sacked Starcevic on the next play, and then the quarterback overthrew his receiver in the endzone.
His next pass, however, was complete to the five, with three seconds left. But another incomplete pass ended the half with the game tied at 6.
3RD QTR
Kindred received the ball to start the second half. After picking up a first down on a rush play in which it looked like they would lose yards, Kindred picked up another penalty, and Velva's defense stuffed them on the next three plays.
The punt took a friendly bounce to the Vikings' 38, setting up Velva close to midfield. The Aggies missed a huge opportunity to complete a 30-yard pass on third down as the ball went through the diving receiver's hands, leading to another punt.
A couple rush plays got Kindred down to Velva's 36. On third down, Kylan Swenson took it inside the 10, making a few players miss. An illegal substitution sent the Vikings back five yards, and a Velva stuffed Kindred on four straight rush plays to force a turnover on downs.
A 98-yard touchdown pass to Matt Jochim from their own two gave Velva their first lead of the match, and they capitalized on the two-point conversion to make it 14-6.
4TH QTR
Kindred started moving the ball in the 4th with some rush plays, and picked up a first down on 3rd & 1 near Velva's 30. On the next third down conversion attempt, the Vikings threw into double coverage in the endzone, which led to their third interception of the game.
Velva continued rolling on a near-sidearm pass by Schepp to their own 33. With less than seven minutes left, the Aggies came up just short on third down, and Kindred got the ball back.
The Vikings tried a 40-yard pass into Aggies' territory, but the ball went just out of reach of the receiver. Starcevic's next pass got them just enough for the first down, and they quickly picked up another on a rush play, getting them right to the 50.
Starcevic completed another pass to the 35 to Brooks Bakko, then another to the same receiver near the 25. A pass to the endzone was broken up by Schepp, giving the Vikings 3rd & 1 at the 26 with 3:17 left to play.
A carry by Brock Johnson got them down to the two yard line as he pushed through some defenders. Swenson managed to push through the defense on third down to get into the endzone and bring Kindred within two.
Velva came up with a goal line stop on the two-point conversion attempt, giving Velva the ball with a two-point lead and 1:44 remaining.
The Aggies picked up a first down on the ground to start the next drive, forcing Kindred to burn its first timeout of the half. Two more rush plays led to two more timeouts from the Vikings, which put Velva 4th & 2 from the Vikings' 40 with 1:25 left.
Velva decided to punt, giving Kindred the ball back on a touchback with 1:18 left. The Vikings moved it to the 45 on a 25-yard completion to Bakko. He was targeted again on a deep pass to the 25 yard line, but was covered by two Aggies, causing the Vikings to throw their fourth interception of the game.
With no timeouts, Kindred had no hope of getting the ball back, so the Aggies kneeled and took home the victory.
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