Football | 10/21/2016 5:03:00 PM

Note: The year 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the 1966 Dragon Football Team. The team will be recognized at halftime of MSUM's game vs. Minot State on Oct. 29 and a social will be held afterwards. Sign up for the social here.

After a pair of pedestrian campaigns in 1964 (4-4-0) and 1965 (5-4-0), Moorhead State College ignored a 17-7 opening day loss to Concordia College and quietly pieced together a four-game win streak that elevated MSC to certified contender status in the NIC at last. A narrow 3-0 loss to Winona State tempered the championship feeling, but a 13-0 Homecoming triumph over Bemidji State College in October lifted MSC to its first NIC title since 1952. Following a road loss at Lincoln (MO) University, the Dragons closed the books on a 6-3-0 season in 1966 with a 63-0 rout of Mayville State College.
 
Senior Bruce Bakeberg provided a comfortable fit at quarterback for head coach Dwaine Hoberg and calmly orchestrated a suddenly potent Dragon offense. The Ortonville native completed 72 of 163 passes for 1040 yards and 11 touchdowns while Bricker Johnsen, a lean and lethal sophomore wide receiver from tiny Underwood, provided a serious outside threat with 28 receptions for 451 yards and five touchdowns. He would lead the Dragons in receiving from 1965-68 with 73 receptions and 16 touchdowns, and started up front with the basketball Dragons as well.
 
Center Russ Marshall (Dilworth), offensive tackles Al Berglund (Bloomington) and Dennis Yell (Parkers Prairie), and tight end Rick Cochran (Park Rapids) anchored a trusty offensive line while Dave Malcheski, a nasty defensive back from Mound, was named to the All-NIC team. A three-year fixture on the Dragons' offensive line, Yell was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams on the 16^th round of the 1967 National Football League draft.
 
Bakeberg, Cochran, Johnsen, Marshall, Malcheski and Yell were named to the All-NIC team while fullback Leo Jacobson (Hendrum), defensive back Bob Hopek (Phillipsburg, NJ and Mike Quirk would join them on future all-league teams. Cochran and Malcheski shared the Vincent Yatchak Award as the Dragons' MVP.
 
In 1966, Quirk, a 212-pound chunk of iron from Chisholm who took equal delight in running over or around defenders, arrived with little fanfare. By his sophomore season he was clearly the focal point of the Dragon offense, a hint of greater things to come, and in In 1968 Quirk exploded on the national scene as a junior, reaching the magical 200-yard rushing mark on three straight weekends and closing as the leading rusher in the country with 154.7 yards per game. Jacobson would be named the league's MVP in 1969.
 
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Note:  The family of Dennis Yell is establishing a scholarship in his honor. Yell passed away last summer of cancer.