By Scotty Blackwell
In a district opener that saw a very one-sided scoreboard and a rash of personal fouls, the undefeated Timberwolves of D’Arbonne Woods travelled to Warrior Stadium and made quite a statement. In this bout, the teams from the two lakes, (D’Arbonne and Bistineau) squared off under the lights with a hint of fall-like conditions in the air resulting in a dominant performance by DWCA, in a 49-0 shut-out of the Lakeside Warriors.
The contest started with Lakeside winning the coin-toss and deferring to the T-wolves. The potent D’Arbonne Woods offense didn’t waste anytime and on the back of #2 RB Hayden Gray, they went down the field for an easy touchdown. The Warriors seemed eager to answer with run attempts up the middle for three downs in a row, resulting in a bad 4th down snap to the Warriors’ punter. The ball scurried down the field to D’Arbonne’s 3 yard line, where they took over. One play later, QB Weston Jones hustles into the endzone to a fast 14-0 lead over Lakeside. With the Warriors’ offense unable to get moving and a Jordan Case 4th down sack in the backfield, it wouldn’t take long until DWCA’s #55 Wyatt Gilbert scored with :55 seconds to go in the 1st, increasing the lead to 21-0.
The second quarter was more of the same, although at times, sparks would fly for the Warriors. Lakeside Senior, Jeremiah Allen, made his presence known throughout the game with some solid runs to move the chains. Senior Jordan Case battled as well, doing everything in his power to reach the sticks, but the Timberwolves defense was a bit too much with 4th down stand after 4th down stand. Before the halftime buzzer sounded, T-wolves Freshman stand-out Xavier Stromile appeared and scored 6. And that wouldn’t be the last time we would hear from him. As the horn went off, the scoreboard read 28-0.
The long night continued for Lakeside after a returned squib kick put the Warriors at their own 35. With a slight tussle at the end of the play, a T-wolves special teams player impressed the crowd with an Oscar-worthy flop, causing the back official to rocket-launch a bright pink flag…and so it began. Lakeside’s first play from scrimmage in the 3rd was a dropped ball deep into T-Wolves territory and, you guessed it, D’Arbonne recovered. The DWCA quarterback let the pigskin fly and made a precise pass to his receiver in the endzone, pushing the score to 35-0. Here’s where the Warriors really started to fall apart, with a barage of personal fouls, unsportsmanlike calls and even an ejection, the rest of the 3rd wasn’t pretty if you were rooting for Lakeside. Both Wyatt Gilbert and Xavier Stromile for the T-wolves found big holes in the Warrior defense and took the ball all the way home. As the clock wound down in the 3rd, the Timberwolves held a commanding lead 49-0.
The 4th quarter gave us a fast-moving clock and new jersey numbers to look up on the rosters. The T-wolves moved the ball down the field, eating clock and eventually sealing the night with three kneel-downs on the Warriors’ 10 yard line. As a fan, the best part of the night was when the players lined up and shook hands closing out this event. Yes, it was a long, tough night for Lakeside. You win some and you lose some. But we have a saying around here though … and, from the far-side banks of Bistineau, “It’s still a great day to be a Warrior!”
