It might be a bit cliché, but the scoreboard lied a bit at the end of the Litchfield at Dassel-Cokato football game Friday.
It was a much closer game than the 28-14 final score indicated.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, it was still a loss.
“The kids’ effort was fantastic,” Lichfield coach Jim Jackman said. “They played their tails off. I think everybody thought that D-C was just gonna roll, and you know, our kids are making progress, and they’re playing better.”
The teams entered Friday’s game on seemingly different tracks. Litchfield had lost two in a row and been outscored 84-36 in those games. Dassel-Cokato had won five in a row since a Week 1 loss to Princeton, and the Chargers had outscored the opposition 195-65 during that streak.
But the anticipated mismatch never materialized.
Litchfield used a methodical, ball-control offense and a stout defense to stay with the favored Chargers until late in the fourth quarter. Dassel-Cokato finished with a 314-228 advantage in total yards, but Litchfield made key stops to keep things close.
One of those stops came late in the first quarter when Litchfield senior Garrison Jackman picked off a Caleb Thinesen pass deep in Dragons territory. Dassel-Cokato led 7-0 and looked to be driving for another score before Jackman’s interception.
Instead of going down by two scores, Litchfield changed the game’s trajectory by driving for a touchdown of its own, capped by a 21-yard scoring run by Lukas Kuehl.
Dassel-Cokato took back the lead before halftime on a seven-yard run by Thineson.
Litchfield responded in a big way in the third quarter.
The Dragons received the opening kickoff of the second half and stubbornly refused to give the ball back as they marched down the field. Litchfield ran 17 plays — 13 runs and four passes — as it gobbled up time and yardage.
The drive ended — after nearly 10 and half minutes of possession and 80 yards — with T.J. Christenson hauling in a five-yard pass from Jackman on fourth-and-goal.
Dassel-Cokato took back the lead again, 21-14, on a 5-yard run by Tait Link early in the fourth quarter. Litchfield tried to respond late in the game, but its drive stalled near midfield when it couldn’t convert a fourth down pass play.
Dassel-Cokato then padded its winning margin when Thinesen hit Samuel Gedde with a 23-yard scoring strike.
Litchfield’s two long drives contributed in big ways to the balance between the two teams. The Dragons ran 52 offensive plays, while D-C ran 62 plays.
Kuehl was again a workhorse, toting the ball for 30 of Litchfield’s 34 rushing plays. Meanwhile, Jackman completed 13 of 18 passes for 81 yards, with seven completions going to Christenson.
