Northern Illinois Sports Beat: They Did It! They Did It!

By Jon Lewis, Northern Illinois Sports Beat writer

DAKOTA - On a day when the rivalry between Dakota and Orangeville was in full force the Broncos prevailed.

Prior to Saturday�s 20-7 victory the Broncos last win over Dakota was in 2003. Earlier in the year Dakota defeated Orangeville 24-14 on Orangeville�s home field. But the Broncos like going on the road; in fact, they haven�t lost on the road all season. Orangeville came into the game with a clean bill of health were as Dakota was without starting quarterback Austin Oberbruner and running back Cody Jacobsen.

�Dakota is a good team, with a great program and they haven�t won 23 in a row for nothing,� Orangeville head coach Toby Golembiewski explained. "You could tell the injuries really took a toll on them."

On the first drive of the game the stingy Orangeville defense stopped Dakota on a fourth down play. Then the Broncos went to work capping the drive with a Trace Hanson touchdown pass to Alex Zimmerman with 6:21 left in the first quarter. This was exciting moment for Zimmerman because it was his first touchdown catch ever. The conversion failed and score remained 6-0.

�I haven�t had many catches on the year and really I don�t care as long as we win,� Zimmerman explained.

Dakota got the ball back and Evan Dornick answered right back with a sixty-yard touchdown run with 2:27 left in the first quarter. Todd Rupnow added the extra-point to put the Indians ahead 7-6.

With 9:17 left in the second quarter the put another score when Riley Kubatzke barreled into the end zone from six yards out. After the conversion attempt failed Orangeville lead 12-7.

�We have been saying all week it�s not about the better team it�s about the team that wants it, the team that will tear their to peaces to get it and that is us,� Kubatzke who finished 131 yards rushing, said.

Dakota went to work on the ensuing drive but Cody Maddox who was starting his first game since eight grade through an interception that Caleb Carr return fifty yards to the house. Carr took then took the two-point conversion run in to make it 20-7 and end the scoring on the day.

�It was a huge momentum change,� said Carr, who also had 47 yards rushing.

The Indians looked prime to score on the last drive of the first half but once again the Bronco defense held them on downs. Led by Derek Weherenberg and Kubatzke who lead the Broncos in tackles with ten.

On their second drive of the third quarter Dakota was having one their methodical Dakota they are famous for. A no nonsense running straight at you with the running game, which worked until a fumble was forced and recovered by Bronco lineman Shawn Peterson. That sent the Dakota fans filing out of stands earlier than expected.

Orangeville also has a foreign exchange student Axel Catasus from Sweden on the team and earlier in the year he said the first game against Aquin was the biggest crowd he had ever seen. On Saturday he was introduced to an atmosphere he said he will never forget.

�This is the best moment of my football career,� Catasus said. �There was more people here today then at all my games in Sweden combined.�

After the game the entire Orangeville sideline stormed the field and hoisted Toby Golembiewski above it all waiving a Bronco flag. The Indians season ended shorter than expected. Orangeville will play on and will travel to Toulon Stark County.

�It really is a dream come true,� Hanson said. �We have been dreaming about this for four year now and we did it.�

�This is so huge for not just our team but our town, this is the last time year we will play them unless we meet in the playoffs again,� Golembewski said. "Everybody from Orangeville now holds bragging rights over Dakota because we won the last game we ever played. So for the parents of the Dakota graduates that talk them up at church, the bar, work or the grocery store. We can now say 'yeah but we won the last one ha, ha'. I had a couple of tears on the sideline, this was the biggest win my thirteen years here. The greatest thing about this team though is that there is no one guy that does it all for us."