DICKINSON, N.D. — Two turnovers that led to scores doomed Rocky Mountain College in its season-opening football game Thursday night and the Battlin' Bears fell to No. 15-ranked Dickinson State on the road, 42-17.
Jayden Heartwell got it started for the Blue Hawks with a 66-year interception return for a touchdown to put DSU ahead 7-0 in the first quarter. Heartwell also scored his team's second defensive TD when he forced a fumble from Rocky quarterback Graedyn Buell and returned it to the end zone to give the Blue Hawks a 21-10 advantage.
A 24-yard touchdown pass from Buell to Joseph Dwyer tied the game 7-7, but Dickinson State retook the lead on a 20-yard TD run by Braden Zuroff in the second quarter.
Consecutive scoring plays by DSU's Will Madler — a 23-yard pass to C.J. Stinson and 1-yard touchdown run of his own — gave the Blue Hawks a 34-10 lead midway through the fourth and put the game out of reach.
Booker Bush caught a 24-yard touchdown pass for Rocky in the fourth, but Dickinson answered to close the scoring with a 37-yard TD run by Carson Hunter.
Buell threw for 272 yards for Rocky, while Dwyer caught seven passes for 151 yards. Rocky's ground game was stifled and finished minus-10 yards, thanks in part to Buell being sacked seven times.
Zuroff led Dickinson State with 77 rushing yards. The Blue Hawks went 8 for 15 on third down plays.
Rocky will return home next week to face Frontier Conference foe MSU-Northern on Saturday at 1 p.m. Dickinson State, which will leave the North Star Athletic Association and join the Frontier beginning next year, faces Mayville State on the road.
