Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DIKE – For the second consecutive season Dike-New Hartford denied Regina a district title in the regular season finale.

Unlike last year’s loss to the Wolverines Friday’s setback to top-ranked Dike-New Hartford won’t be season-ending for the Regals.

Class 1A No. 10 Regina (7-2, 4-1) committed five turnovers while falling to Dike-New Hartford 42-10 in a defacto District 6 title game on Friday but will return to the postseason after a one-year absence as an at-large qualifier in the 16-team 1A playoff field that opens play next Friday.

“This was a playoff game, this is a playoff caliber team,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “Ultimately we just have to get ready and we have six days to get ready for the next game.”

Defending 1A runner-up Dike-New Hartford (9-0) scored 35 unanswered points to erase an early 10-7 deficit while claiming District 6 title for the second straight season with a regular season win over Regina.

A year ago the Wolverines needed a big fourth quarter to hold off an offensive onslaught from the Regals.

On Friday it was a defense that forced five turnovers and the running of senior tailback Cade Bennett that helped Dike-New Hartford run its regular season winning streak to 22.

Bennett rushed for 212 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries as the Wolverines secured a home playoff game.

“We knew that we were mostly likely going to be in the playoffs but we really wanted two home games,” Bennett said. “We wanted to start off the next season at home so that’s what motivated that us the most.”

Regina held early leads of 3-0 and 10-7 after Levi Quinlan capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run 41 seconds into the second quarter.

The lead didn’t last long.

On the first play following the ensuing kickoff Bennett broke two tackles near the line of scrimmage and raced 80 yards for a touchdown that gave Dike-New Hartford a 14-10 lead it would never give up.
 “That was really important because it really helped to motivate us,” Bennett said of the long-touchdown run. “It was a big change in the game, our guys got fired up, I got fired up and we knew it was going to be one fun game.”

The momentum flipped on the ensuing Regina possession.

A 21-yard pass from Ashton Cook to Alec Wick and a 26-yard run by Wick set up Regina inside the Wolverine 15 yard line.

On second down Josh Dutchik hauled in a pass from Wick and turned up field but had the ball popped out at the 1-yard line.

Dike-New Hartford’s Parker Kieweit scooped up the fumble inside the 1 yard line and returned it 57 yards to the Regina 42.

Five plays later Kieweit caught his second touchdown pass of the game, a 32-yarder from Drew Sonnenberg that put the Wolverines up 21-10.

“We did a lot of good things at times but you have to play 48 minutes,” Cook said. “You can’t turn the ball over and we did. You can’t fumble, we did and you just can’t do those things.”

Dike-New Hartford added another score before half when Dane Fuller made a diving catch of a Sonneberg pass for a 1-yard touchdown grab with seven seconds left in the quarter.

Sonnenberg converted two fourth down plays on the 59-yard touchdown drive before the half, connecting with Fuller for 11 yards on a fourth-and-two and running for 11 yards on a fourth-and-eight play.

“They made some nice catches on fourth down, they broke the pocket on fourth down and got the first down before the half that lead to another score and it got away from us,” Cook said. “I thought we were prepared, I thought our kids played hard we just didn’t make enough plays. They made plays and we didn’t.”

Bennett had 159 of his 212 yards in the second half as Dike-New Hartford put the game away.

Cook finished 15-of-25 passing for 130 yards for Regina while Quinlan rushed for 59 yards and a score.

Alec Wick caught eight passes for 68 yards for the Regals.

                              ICR                 D-NH

First downs                18                    17

Rushes-yards             36-158            38-228

Comp-Att-Int             15-25-2            10-17-0

Passing yards             130                  128

Total yards                 288                  423

Punts-avg.                  1-23                 2-27.5

Fumbles-lost               3-3                   1-1

Penalties yards          4-17                 4-35

Regina                                    3   7   0  0  –  10

Dike New-Hartford               7  21  7  7  –  42

ICR – Michael Dunn 25 field goal

DNH – Parker Kiewiet 20 pass from Drew Sonnenberg (Nolan Dall kick)

ICR – Levi Quinlan 2 run (Dunn kick)

DNH – Cade Bennett 80 run (Dall kick)

DNH – Kiewiet 32 pass from Sonnenberg (Dall kick)

DNH – Dane Fuller 1 pass from Sonnenberg (Dall kick)

DNH – Bennett 3 run (Dall kick)

DNH – Sonnenberg 3 run (Dall kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Levi Quinlan 14-59, Theo Kolie 10-34, Alec Wick 1-26, Ashton Cook 4-20, Noah Kron 4-10, Carson Jensen 2-7, Chase Becker 1-2. DNH: Cade Bennett 31-212, Drew Sonnenberg 3-11, Drew Larsen 2-6, Kaleb Brouwer 1-1, Dane Fuller 1-(-3).

PASSING – ICR: Ashton Cook 15-25-2 130. DNH: Drew Sonnenberg 10-17-0 128.

RECEIVING – ICR: Alec Wick 8-68, Josh Dutchik 4-41, Nic Hein 2-11, Levi Quinlan 1-10. DNH: Parker Kiewiet 5-95, Dane Fuller 2-12, Kaleb Brouwer 1-10, AJ Wegener 1-5, Nathan Moore 1-6.

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