Local Sports

SENIOR SENDOFF

Dodgers reach new heights with victory in home finale

Fort Dodge did its part on Friday, sending one of the most successful senior classes in modern program history out in style with a 17-6 victory over Sioux City West on Senior Night.

Senior workhorse Will McElroy carried 35 times for 155 yards as the Dodgers completed a 6-3 regular season. Their playoff fate as a potential at-large Class 4A qualifier was to be determined early Saturday morning.

Regardless of the postseason outcome, head coach Nik Moser's squad secured at least six victories in three consecutive years for the first time at Fort Dodge since 1948, '49 and '50. The Dodgers hold a record of 21-8 over the last three campaigns combined.

The FDSH defense was relentless in its pursuit of talented Wolverine junior Tavin Irvine. A quarterback with over 1,300 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns in the first eight games combined, Irvine was held in check by a blitzing, swarming Dodger front.

Irvine finished with 133 passing yards, but it took him 32 attempts to reach that mark as he connected on only nine throws. He also had only 11 rushing yards on 18 carries, as seniors Jayon Preston-Grady, Jayce Skow, Alex Beekman and juniors Cael Adams and Luke Beckley were in constant pursuit up front.

McElroy did the rest. Fort Dodge wore down West (4-5) with its offensive line in the second half, as McElroy rushed 24 times for 111 yards after the intermission. Meanwhile, the Wolverines managed only 47 net yards in the third and fourth quarters combined.

The contest remained close until the 3:41 mark in the fourth quarter, when senior Tru McBride hit classmate Sam Moser for a 43-yard scoring strike to give the Dodgers some breathing room at 10-0. West answered with a productive possession and its lone touchdown, but junior Coy Nichols blocked the extra point to keep the advantage at 10-6 early in the final period.

Moser returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards into West territory to set up Fort Dodge's knockout-punch drive. Heavy doses of McElroy highlighted a 11-play, 46-yard march that ate up clock and was finished with a McBride quarterback keeper for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

The Wolverines had a long kickoff return, and a penalty immediately gave them the ball in the Dodger red zone trailing 17-6. West went backwards from there, though, and Preston-Grady forced a scrambling Irvine out of bounds for a 19-yard loss on fourth down to fittingly seal the deal late.

FDSH senior Conrad Greathouse kicked a 33-yard field goal for the only first-half points. Each team was penalized seven times in a sometimes-clunky, stop-and-go slog through the first and second quarters.

Skow - like McBride, McElroy, Moser and Preston-Grady, a three-year starter - recorded a game-high 14 tackles for the Dodgers, who were attempting to earn an at-large playoff spot for the third straight season.

McElroy finished as the program's eighth-ever offensive back to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark. With 71 passing yards, McBride went over 4,200 for his career - the third-best ever among all Dodgers, behind only Drake Miller and Randy Reiners.

Fort Dodge has never been to the postseason in three straight years, and this marks only the third time in school history the team has won at least six times in three consecutive seasons - all in either the 1930s or '40s.

The Dodgers' 22-player senior class was recognized before kickoff - a group that included McElroy, McBride, Moser, Skow, Preston-Grady, Beekman, Greathouse, Zak Jorgensen, Ezrah Barkhaus, Cal Pederson, Kyree Rochon, Korben Davis, Javion Soppeland, Kason Echevarria, Will Jones, Kingston Phillips, Aidin Grady, Kellin Crouse, Rylan Crouse, Jayden Stanley, Teddy Johnson and Patrick Clay.