The DTC had the 3-2 Montcalm Panthers as only a 3 pt favorite over the 1-4 Dakota Blizzard this week. It was free Dairy Queen Margarita Blizzard at Dakota's Arctic Circle Stadium Friday night and the fans were fired up.
Many of them passed out soon after Montcalm scored on their first possession on a Drew Brees to Roy Williams 14 yd pass in the face of a Blizzard blitz. The rest of the first half scoring consisted of 3 field goals, 2 for Montcalm, 1 for Blizzard, putting the score at 10-zzzzz-6 at halftime. Brees went 5 of 7 on the final (zzzz) field goal drive, thwarting the Dakota double coverage by throwing to the single covered guys.
The Blizzard offense, one of the lowest scoring squads in the league, was playing as poor as expected so it was up to the defense to get the game back. On the first play of the 3rd quarter, S Josh Bullocks picked off Brees giving Ben Roethlisberger & Co. a short field. They capitalize on a 16 yard seam to Kevin Faulk taking the lead which they would never give up. The Panthers would eat up over 6 minutes on their next drive and come up...with nothing - a missed 45 yard FG. Dakota gets (yawn) another FG to go up 10-15. Montcalm follows up with a nice drive that gets them to Dakota's 20 but CB Nate Clements is part of the double coverage and snags an interception, running it all the way back to Montcalm's 9. Roethlisberger decides to throw to, who else, Kevin Faulk for another TD strike.
Down 22-10 with 13 minutes left,the Panters go on another clock eating 6 minute drive with Marques Colston catching a pass in the flat then taking 20 yds for the score. The Blizzard are able to hang onto the ball long enough to only allow Montcalm one final desperation play - a long slant to Sam Hurd that falls incomplete.
Dakota's running game was essentially non-existent with 51 yds on 27 carries (1.9 avg) but Big Ben went 16 of 21, 229 yds and 2 TDs for a QB rating of 142.8. His effort, along with the two picks of Brees, were the difference in the upset.
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