The first quarter of the GHS Homecoming game was more or less a draw. Up and back on the field as the Blue Dragon Defense held strong, but the offense staggered. The Flandreau Fliers lit up the scoreboard first when Kevin Fernandez of the Fliers made a 27-yard field goal kick, making the score 30 Fliers.
That kick was exactly the kick in the pants the Blue Dragons needed, because Flandreau didn’t score for the rest of the game, and once the Dragon steam engine got rolling, it didn’t stop. The Flyers got a taste of what our own kicker could do. Three quarters later, GHS had a 31-3 victory!
“It took us awhile to establish things on Friday, we need to find a way to get off to better starts,” said Head Coach Chris Long. “Fortunately, we were able to play well on the defensive side and were only down 3-0. We scored twice rather quickly and after that we were able to do some nice things on the offensive side of the ball.”
“I thought Dylan (Kindt) did some nice things in the passing game and we had six different guys catch the football,” said Coach Long. “It’s nice to have that kind of balance. Cooper (Long) made a couple nice plays early and that got us going and Dom (Abraham) and Parker (Schlenker) accounted for almost 140 yards from the fullback spot. We had a lot of good performances from a lot of people. The highlight of the night...Cody Erickson’s 52-yard field goal. He set a new school record that was held by Dan Hansen (37 yards) that was set back in 1969!”
“Cody has done a great job in the kicking area for us this year as well as the previous two,” said Coach Long. “He has blown away all our school records in that area and for his career he is 71-75 on PAT and 4-6 on field goals. Having someone be able to do those things for us is invaluable. It was great to see him take advantage of that opportunity on Friday. It’s a big task for a guy to kick a 52-yard field goal, but he made the most of it. It was a cool moment.”
Kindt sent off three successful touchdown passes to Cooper Long, Josef Zahn, and Ryan Flanagan for touchdowns. Dominic Abraham made a 5-yard run for a touchdown, and every extra point attempted by Cody Erickson was a success, as well as his new record setting field goal, made for a homecoming game that was about as good a game as Dragon fans could have hoped for.
