David City shutout against Madison

MADISON - The David City football team opened its season in all-to-familiar fashion Friday - with a loss.

Madison broken open a close game late to take a 20-0 victory in the season opener.

“We were absolutely in position to win this game, but we just couldn't get the ball in the end zone,” David City Coach Cortney Couch said.

Friday's game marked the eighth straight year the Scouts have lost their first contest of the season.

It wasn't for a lack of opportunities.

Madison penalties and turnovers gave David City three golden chances to get into the end zone when the game was still on the line.

The first came when the Scouts' Nolan Vandenberg recovered a Drew Wagner fumble at the David City 24-yard-line.

A 17-yard pass from Travis Worm to Vandenberg moved the Scouts into Madison territory. A roughing-the-passer penalty and a later personal foul helped David City move even deeper.

On third-and-seven from the Madison nine, David City quarterback Travis Worm was stripped of the ball on an option play, and Wagner recovered for the Dragons.

A short time later, Madison quarterback Kurt Ruh dropped back to pass, but the snap never got to him.

David City's Seth Behrens recovered the ball at the Madison 14.

Dana Rasmussen rambled 10 yards to set up a first-and-goal, but a holding penalty helped stall the drive.

David City went for the field goal, but there were problems with the snap, throwing off the timing. Vandenberg's 33-yard attempt was well short.

The Scouts only trailed 7-0 when they received another gift-wrapped chance when a snap went over the head of Madison punter Grant Wobken.

He was tackled for a 20-yard loss at the Madison 19.

David City couldn't get a first down, and Vandenberg's field goal attempt had the distance, but was just wide left.

“I'm not going to take anything away from Madison, because they played with a lot of fire and got the job done. But we were our own worst enemy in the first half,” Couch said.

Madison had taken the lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass on the fade pattern from Kurt Ruh to Jacob Daberkow with 1:19 left in the first half.

The Dragons took control after the Scouts' second missed field goal. Ruh, who'd earlier had all day to eventually find an open Becker for a 32-yard pass that set up the first down, found him again for a 23-yard gain to the David City 41.

Josh Eisenmann eventually finished off the 11-play drive with a six-yard touchdown run with 10:40 left in the game.

Wagner, one of two returning starters at running back, added a 55-yard touchdown run with 6:43, leaving a string of broken tacklers in his wake.

Wagner finished with 121 yards on 23 carries for the Dragons, who finished with 143 yards on the ground, well under the 360 yards they racked up against the Scouts last year.

“We made a lot of good plays on defense. We got burned a few times in single coverage and we had some missed tackles on a couple of plays, but our defense was fairly solid,” Couch said.

Worm passed for 98 yards for David City, which had to play the game without Kyle Hilger, the team's leading rusher and receiver last year. Lucas Kastl had 13 stops, while Levi Magnuson had nine.

David City hosts its home opener next Friday against Central City.

David City 0 0 0 0 -0

Madison 0 7 0 13 -20

Scoring Summary

€ M - Jacob Daberkow 9 pass from Kurt Ruh (Jacob Long kick).

€ M - Josh Eisenmann 6 run (kick blocked).

€ M - Drew Wagner 55 run (Long kick).

Team Statistics

DC M

First downs 11 11

Rushing 35-101 40-143

Passing 8-20-1 6-14-1

Yards 98 92

Total Off. 55-199 54-235

Penalties 4-29 4-42

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 5-3

Punts 3-30.7 2-40.5.

Individual Statistics

€ RUSHING - (DC): Dana Rasmussen 11-35, Levi Magnuson 13-32, Broderick Sylvester 6-28. (M): D. Wagner 23-121, Quante Dorcey 5-19, Kurt Ruh 12-17.

PASSING - (DC): Travis Worm 8-19-1, 98; Alex Mattan 0-1-0, 0. (M): Ruh 6-13-0, 92; Grant Wolken 0-1-1, 0.

€ RECEIVING - (DC): Aaron Schmid 3-28, Sylvester 3-14, Rasmussen 2-29, Nolan

Vandenberg 1-17. (M): Derek Becker 3-63, Jesse Pfeifer 1-14, Daberkow 1-9, Wagner 1-6.

€ TACKLES - (DC): Lucas Kastl 13 (7 solo, 5 for loss), Magnuson 9, Schmid 7 (4 solo, 2 for loss), Seth Behrens 5, Tyler Papa 5. (M): Dorsey 7 (4 solo), Becker 7, Eisenmann 7, Jacob Sunderman 6, Wolken 6, Long 6.

€ TAKEAWAYS - (DC): Vandenberg 1 fum. rec., 1 int-0 yds, 1 blk. PAT, Mattan 1 fum. rec., Behrens 1 fum. rec. (M): Wagner 1 fum. rec., Jordan Hanson 1 int-13 yds.