By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

WHITE — Three years ago when Nathan Lamb took the football coaching position at Deubrook Area, the thought of reaching the DakotaDome wasn’t close to being in the playbook. 

The Dolphins were coming off back-to-back 0-8 seasons and Lamb’s hopes of a good start took a hit when his most experienced athletes decided not to play. 

“When I got here all of the seniors said they weren’t coming out for football,” Lamb said. “In the end only one senior came out and we only had four juniors that came out for football that year.”

With a young roster, and a tough schedule, that first season (2021) wasn’t spectacular. The Dolphins slogged through their first seven games with no wins and had a 24-game losing streak now hanging over the heads of the Dolphins players, coaches and a proud sports community. 

“The Dakota Valley conference had nine teams that year with four on one side and five on the other,” Lamb said. “We were on the side with five and we didn’t have a team in the league crossover games so we knew we would end up playing Waverly-South Shore.”

Ironically, Waverly-South Shore was the school Lamb had come from after six seasons to take the head job for Deubrook Area. At halftime of the regular-season finale in Waverly, the Dolphins were playing well but still trailed by a single point. At intermission the athletes on his new squad told the coaching staff ‘we can run power.’

“I told them ‘power’ had been iffy in the first half but we decided to run power,” Lamb said. “Gavin Landmark was a sophomore then and filled in for an injured player and I think he ended up with something like 32 carries for 232 yards.” 

That night, Oct.15, 2021 the Deubrook Dolphin football program tasted victory for the first time since October 12, 2018. While the fans were going crazy and the junior high coach was teaching the current players a song football teams used to sing after big wins, Lamb could not help but think that the first season turned out about right. 

“That was probably about the best thing that could have happened to us,” Lamb said. “To not make the playoffs and to win that last game and ride that one game win streak through the off-season worked out just right for us.”

The seniors on this year’s roster remember those difficult moments and they also remember that a 24-game losing streak did not put a damper on their gridiron dreams. 

“Through all those games we always played hard,” senior Jaxon Quail said. “I felt like our older leaders didn’t step up for us but we were always excited and always ready to play football.” 

Deubrook Area Dolphins make a tackle against Canistota on Sept. 29 in Canistota. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

When the current crop of Deubrook Area seniors were in first grade, Deubrook Area won the 2012 Class 9AA state football championship. That memory stuck with the 2024 graduates through every challenging moment of their high school football careers. 

“We’ve been dreaming about going to play in the DakotaDome since we were little kids,” senior Gavin Landmark said. 

In 2022, after a summer of lifting and team camps, Deubrook Area started the season 3-0. In their fourth game they met up with Elkton-Lake Benton. After scoring first, the Elks reeled off two touchdowns. Driving in for the tying score, senior running back and linebacker Trevon Grimsrud, fractured his arm. 

“We moved Colin Bowman, who was a good runner and an OK passer, to quarterback,” Lamb said. “We moved Gavin Landmark from wide receiver back to running back.”

The moves helped but the Dolphins finished the regular season 4-4. Deubrook Area drew Wolsey-Wessington in the first round of the playoffs. The Warbirds had several key cogs coming back from injury, and as Lamb said, were probably the best 4-4 team in the Class 9A playoff field last year. A 41-0 loss sent the Dolphins home after a playoff game but that was still progress. 

Despite not being ranked or thought of as a potential power entering the 2023 season, Deubrook Area felt strongly that they would be better this season.

“Expectations were pretty high,” Lamb said. “They had a goal to be where we are and we’re here. For me, we have talent and potential and those are pretty dangerous words when you put them together.”

Lamb said this year's team focused on the little things and kept getting better each and every week. 

“We always had the pieces but we didn’t know if they would all come together,” Lamb said.In the 2023 playoffs the Dolphins dispatched Estelline/Hendricks (45-6) and then earned road wins over Alcester-Hudson (14-10) and Philip (18-14).

The clinching moment was special for an entire community. 

“This whole year has been unbelievable and I can’t imagine it going any better,” Landmark said. “The moment we realized we were in the state championship game I had to have a buddy tell me it was real.” 

Through there many obstacles the Deubrook Area football team has adopted the mantra of ‘Whatever it takes.’

“We’ve tried to instill a champions’ mindset and an anti-fragile athlete,” Lamb said. “We want athletes that will seek out the challenge risking failure because it will make them better.”