It took nearly 19 and a half ours to complete, but the Dowagiac football team earned its first win of the season at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field Saturday afternoon.

The Chieftains and visiting Sturgis had to endure nearly three hours of storm delays before deciding to call it a night on Friday.

Dowagiac and the Trojans stopped the game with 4:13 showing on the first quarter clock and the Chieftains with the ball at the Sturgis 6-yard line.

It didn’t take long for Dowagiac to score and the Chieftains went on to post a 22-7 Wolverine Conference non-divisional victory over the Trojans.

Brandon Hatch capped off the scoring drive with a six-yard run around the left end to make it 6-0 after the conversion attempt failed.

Neither team would score in the second quarter, leaving the Chieftains with the one score advantage heading to the locker room.

Dowagiac shored up its blocking on the offensive line and got more aggressive on defense in the second half. The Chieftains dominated Sturgis over the final 24 minutes, but only had a pair of scores and a safety to show for it.

Dowagiac (1-1) opened up a 22-0 lead on the Trojans, who are playing their first season in the Wolverine Conference.

Chase Camp scored on a 49-yard run in the third quarter as the Chieftains increased their advantage to 14-0 following Bryce Dodd’s pass to Austin Taggart for the 2-point conversion.

Both teams had goal line stands in the third quarter.

Following the Trojans’ stop on fourth down at the goal line, they were called for holding in the end zone on the ensuring play giving Dowagiac a safety.

The Chieftains wrapped up their scoring with a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter. The conversion failed, leaving the score at 22-0.

With most of its regulars on the sidelines, Dowagiac was unable to hold on to the shutout.

On its best drive of the game, Sturgis worked its way down the field and scored on a 13-yard run by Justin Bowdish with 1:22 remaining in the contest. Jack Caywood added the extra point to complete the scoring.

The Chieftains finished with 284 yards rushing and 52 yards passing at Dodd was 5-of-11.

Hatch led the way with 108 yards on 13 carries. Lucio finished with 78 yards and Camp 74 yards. Hatch also had three catches for 34 yards.

Sturgis was held to 242 yards of total offense, of which 165 came on the gorund.

Bowdish finished with a game-high 133 yards on 12 carries.

Tristan Stewart, brother of Western Michigan quarterback Chance Stewart, was 13-of-21 for 77 yards. He also ran for 31 yards.

 

Sturgis             0          0          0          7  — 7

Dowagiac        6          0          8          8 — 22

D – Brandon Hatch 6 run (conversion failed)

D – Chase Camp 49 run (Bryce Dodd pass to Austin Taggart)

D – Safety (Sturgis holding in end zone)

D – Rolly Lucio 5 run (conversion fails)

S – Justin Bowdish 13 run (Jack Caywood kick)