Riders down Jays

Another shutout performance from Grand Forks Red River’s defense kept the Jamestown High School football team winless.

The Roughriders (2-0), who blanked Williston 35-0 last week, held the Blue Jays to just 38 yards of offense in the second half en route to a 26-0 nonconference win in Class AAA action Friday at Ernie Gates Field.

“This gives our team confidence,” said Red River coach Vyrn Muir, whose team meets rival Grand Forks Central next week. “Winning cures a lot of problems.”

There were problems for the Roughriders early on, as Jamestown gave them everything they could handle. Blue Jays quarterback Matt Grounds connected with tight end Marc Wagner on a 31-yard touchdown pass on a fake punt on fourth-and-9. However, a delayed false start call erased the score. Jamestown had nine penalties for 53 yards.

“That was a huge play for us,” Jamestown coach Tim Fletcher said. “When we face that adversity, we’ve got to overcome it.”

Instead, Jamestown was forced to punt, though Red River didn’t do anything with its drive, either.

It wasn’t until a missed 19-yard field goal attempt from Jamestown that Red River finally shined.

The Roughriders embarked on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in a Conner Dingle 1-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the first half. Dingle added a 3-yard scoring run in the final minute of the half to put Red River up 14-0. He finished with 97 yards on 21 carries.

“He’s a big, strong kid; he’s not gonna beat anybody in a foot race,” Muir said. “He runs hard, he can push the pile and he did that tonight.”

Red River quarterback Chad Bartosh connected on a 25-yard TD pass to Loren Bothun in the third quarter and followed that in the fourth with a 1-yard strike to Jake Robson to seal the win. Bartosh completed 10-of-15 passes for 133 yards.

Fletcher said the Blue Jays (0-2) have shown they have the right physical tools and that they believe they can win. It’s just a matter of executing, mentally.

“What I talked about (to the players) was playing disciplined,” Fletcher said. “That starts on the practice field and it has to carry over into games. I thought we were the more physical team. It was just the mental mistakes, and I know our kids can overcome that.”

Jamestown quarterback Matt Grounds was 10-of-18 for 116 yards. He spread the ball around, too, as five Blue Jays each caught two passes, led by Sean Lindberg’s 43 yards. Running back Anthony Cook was the team’s leading rusher, gaining 41 yards on 14 carries.

The Blue Jays are back in action on Friday when they travel to Mandan.

Grand Forks Red River 26, Jamestown 0

G.F. Red River 0 14 20 26

Jamestown 0 0 0 0

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

GFRR — Conner Dingle 1 run (kick failed), 4:54

GFRR — Dingle 3 run (Adam Bothun pass from Chad Bartosh), 0:54

Third quarter

GFRR — Loren Bothun 25 pass from Bartosh (kick failed), 4:26

Fourth quarter

GFRR — Jake Robson 1 pass from Bartosh (pass failed), 10:02

Individual statistics

Rushing — GFRR, Dingle 21-97, Austin Reynolds 6-75, Bartosh 2-19, Lucas Nuelle 3-16, Ryan Bothun 4-4, Jon Lizotte 1-3, Josh Hall 1-(-1). J, Anthony Cook 14-41, Matt Grounds 6-14, Eathan Gumke 5-14.

Passing — GFRR, Bartosh 10-15-0 133, Loren Bothun 0-0-0 0. J, Grounds 10-18-0 116.

Receiving — GFRR, Vashawn Pope 3-43, Adam Bothun 3-35, Loren Bothun 1-25, Jake Robson 1-16, Ryan Bothun 1-9, John Hoplin 1-5. J, Sean Lindberg 2-43, Marc Wagner 2-28, Tyler Ukestad 2-19, C.J. Soulis 2-18, Cook 2-8.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jays, football