Vikings snap 5-game skid to Jimmies

For the first time since 2006, the Paint Bucket will reside in Valley City.

A very shaky start on special teams and a ragged offensive performance by the Jimmies was too much to overcome in a 21-10 loss to the 23rd-ranked Vikings Saturday afternoon at Lokken Field.

In the first quarter alone, the Jimmies had two bad snaps on punts and another botched snap on a makeable field goal.

"If I was a tennis coach, I'd say we had too many unforced errors. They were basically of the self-inflicted variety," said JC coach Bud Etzold. "After the first quarter I thought we settled down and played OK, but you can't make as many mistakes as we did and expect to beat a good football team."

The Jimmies had beaten the Vikings five straight times, but VCSU has its best team in a handful of years and they got some early help from the Jimmies and did not waste it.

"We've had a lot of frustrations over the last four years being on the losing end against them, so this feels pretty good," said VCSU coach Dennis McCulloch.

In the first quarter alone, JC quarterback Brad Lint threw an interception, and they had two bad snaps to punter Craig Anderson, giving the Vikings the ball deep in Jimmie territory three times.

Valley City State wasted the first two chances, but capitalized on the third as Nick Schoenecker hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Zinke to make it 6-0 Vikings (2-0 DAC, 4-1 overall) late in the first quarter.

Lint, who was sacked six times in the game, was picked off on the next JC possession on a diving grab by linebacker Josh Hooey, again deep in Jimmie territory.

Just two plays later Bernardo Marte reeled in a pass from Zinke for a 28-yard touchdown strike to make it 13-0 VCSU.

"We just weren't able to execute at key times in the game. We'd get a little something going, then a mental mistake would kill us," Etzold said. "They defended us well. You can't take anything away from them. We're extremely disappointed over losing."

The JC defense played well despite being constantly being put in bad field position by the offense and special teams. In fact, the defense accounted for the only touchdown.

Down 14-0, Zinke and running back A.J. Pfeifer collided on a handoff in JC territory, the ball was jarred free and linebacker Jamey Westbrook picked up the gift and rumbled 65 yards for a touchdown.

Still down just 14-7, Ryan Benke powered in a 29-yard field goal midway through the third quarter to cut the VCSU lead to 14-10.

The score was set up by the second of three Jimmie interceptions when Dillon Kelly got his second interception of the season. Cornerback A.J. Downs got his third pick of the season later in the game.

But the Jimmie offense could not get on track. Lance Johansen did run for 101 yards on 15 carries, but they finished with just 143 total yards, including more than 60 yards lost on sacks and bad-snap recoveries.

"Stats don't mean anything as far as I'm concerned. We just weren't able to consistently make the plays especially in key spots," Etzold said.

The Vikings got their lone touchdown of the second half early in the fourth quarter when Darius Anderson broke off a 46-yard touchdown run. It capped an 8-play, 99-yard drive, which included a backbreaking 25-yard connection from Zinke to Ken Eliacin on 3rd-and-10 on the JC 1-yard line.

Etzold also highlighted the play of Valley City State defensive tackle Jordan Maher, who had six tackles, including two sacks.

"He was all over the field," Etzold said. "He played outstanding for them, and I thought (Tommy) Zinke made some big throws at big times. That was really the difference in the game."

It's back to the drawing board for the Jimmies (1-2, 2-3) and another tough road game Saturday when they travel to Division III Wis-LaCrosse (1-3).

"We have absolutely no thoughts of folding the tent or putting the sock on the bat or whatever sports cliché you want to use. We're only halfway through the season and there are still a lot of positives out there for us," Etzold said. "The big thing is we have to maintain our enthusiasm for playing and coaching and realize what a privilege it is to play this game. We're going to keep going hard until we wake up and don't have any more games left."

Valley City State 21, Jamestown College 10

Jamestown College 0 7 3 0 -- 10

Valley City State 7 7 0 7 -- 21

Scoring summary

First quarter

VCSU--Nick Schoenecker 8 yard pass from Tommy Zinke (Thomas Cortez kick), :50.

Second quarter

VCSU--Bernardo Marte 28 pass from Zinke (Cortez kick), 14:03.

JC--Jamey Westbrook 71 fumble return (Ryan Benke kick), 6:39.

Third quarter

JC--Benke 29 field goal, 7:0.

Fourth quarter

VCSU--Darius Anderson 46 run (Cortez kick), 12:25.

Team statistics

JC VCSU

First downs 13 19

Rushes-yards 34-59 41-139

Comp-Att-Int 12-26-2 11-22-3

Passing yards 84 152

Total offense 143 291

Fumbles-lost 3-3 2-1

Penalties-yards 9-76 6-71

Individual statistics

Jamestown College

Rushing: Lance Johansen 15-101, Matt Mithaugen 7-21, Tyler Notch 1-(-8), Craig Anderson 1-(-12), Ryan Benke 2-(-21), Brad Lint 8-(-22).

Passing: Lint 12-26 84 yards, 2 INTs.

Receiving: Max Boe 4-36, Johansen 3-40, Mithaugen 2-(-7), Matt Wilson 1-13, Lint 1-2, Derrick Dohmann 1-0.

Interceptions: J.T. Petsch, Dillon Kelly, A.J. Downs.

Valley City State

Rushing: Darius Anderson 10-73, A.J. Pfeifer 27-73, Tommy Zinke 2-(-2), Bernardo Marte 1-(-5).

Passing: Zinke 11-22 152 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs.

Receiving: LeTheo Proctor 4-70, Nick Schoenecker 3-23, Marte 2-33, Ken Eliacin 2-26.

Records: Valley City State 2-0 Dakota Athletic Conference, 4-1 overall; Jamestown College 1-2 DAC, 2-3 overall.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com