DAKOTA — For a moment, South Beloit looked competitive against Dakota on Friday night.

The Sobos were within six points of the lead before Dakota (4-0, 3-0 NUIC Northwest) ran over South Beloit, winning 44-8.

“Offensively we probably played as well as we can,” Dakota coach Jerry Lano said. “Defensively, our four young linebackers needed some work. Next week we’ll do a little better.”

After junior running back Tommy Bowers broke off a 57-yard run to the Sobos 5-yard line, Cody Jacobson ran in the remaining yards for the Indians’ first score.

But South Beloit put the pressure on Dakota’s defense, driving down to the 1-yard line of Dakota. On fourth-and-goal, Dakota stopped the Sobos.

Dakota running backs Jacobson, Evan Dornink and Bowers combined for 335 yards, and Bowers (11 carries, 158 yards) scored the team’s second touchdown for a 13-0 lead.

“My guards set up some great blocks up for me,” said Bowers, who had a 48-yard run before Dornink (seven carries, 156 yards) punched in one of his three touchdown runs for the game. “After that, I just went from there.”

On defense though, the Indians gave up a 60-yard scoring run on a Blake Abbot run up the gut. Seemingly the Indians couldn’t stop much in the first half in the middle of the field.

“They had wider splits and they would just run a straight dive (play),” Bowers said. “But at halftime, our coaches fixed it up and we made some plays.”

After the Abbot score, Landon Ketchum ran back an 80-yard kick return with 9:37 remaining. The Sobos could only watch as Dakota went off to score 19 unanswered points.

- Joey Baskerville, GateHouse News Service