Justin Summers racing away from Mayville State defenders.

Justin Summers racing away from Mayville State defenders.

In case you were hiding under a rock this weekend, and haven’t had contact with anyone on campus, DSU won its first football game of the season against Mayville State. This is a big deal! In the four years I have attended Dakota State University, we have not won a single season opener. If it hadn’t been for my extremely spirited roommates (pun intended), I might not have even gone to the game. Thankfully, I made the right decision to come out from under my own rock and get a glimpse of this year’s football team in action.

Like so many other DSU football games I have attended, we found ourselves down a touchdown early in the first quarter. Then something unexpected happened. DSU managed to score 28 unanswered points on Mayville State. This amazing surge of scoring came off of the heels of DSU quarterback Justin Summers. After Summers scored three rushing touchdown, the fans in my section of the stands had christened him “Justin Football” a play on the nickname given to Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel. I thought that the nickname given to Justin was very befitting the electrifying performance he put on for Trojan football fans.

So, even amidst the rumors circulating in the stands that Mayville’s head coach had walked out on his team a couple of weeks before the start of the season, nothing should be taken away from DSU’s amazing effort in their first game of the season.  Thanks to Summers’ three touchdowns, Jeremey Christner’s single touchdown, and a strong defensive effort, DSU was able to start the season off on the right note with a 28-20 victory over Mayville State. Hopefully, the momentum from this first victory will carry on through the rest of the season and fans will get to see a side of DSU football that has remained dormant for the past few seasons. Only time will tell, but believing is half the battle.