DAWSON - The Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks put together a solid 6-2 football season this year - but senior Andrew Roiger said the team has even higher expectations and will attempt to avenge those two losses as they head into the second round of Section 5A playoffs.

Roiger, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound wide receiver, leads the Blackjacks and is third in the area with 25 catches for 500 yards and seven touchdowns.

"Andrew's having an excellent season," D-B head coach Cory Larson said. "He's one of those kids that is really reliable. He's quiet, but leads by example. He's a quality kid and a great individual. He's the kind of guy that you like to have on your team. We've had a good season. With a couple more wins, it would be a great season."

No. 3 seeded D-B opened the Section 5A playoffs Tuesday in a big way, knocking off the defending state champion and sixth-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 49-0. The Fighting Saints defeated the Blackjacks 24-21 in the playoffs last year.

"We've been waiting for revenge on KMS," said Roiger. "It felt good to beat them. We've been pretty consistent this year. We lost a couple of close ones that we thought we could have won. But as we keep winning, we'll meet up with both of them."

Roiger contributed four catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns against KMS.

"We played the best game of the season against KMS, especially defensively" said Larson. "We played with a necessary intensity as a unit. We didn't just rely on just a few guys. Everyone was flying around and making tackles. We've lacked that intensity till now."

With the first-round victory, the Blackjacks will travel to play No. 2 seeded MACCRAY today. The Wolverines snagged the second seed after defeating D-B 34-33 in the last game of the regular season.

"MACCRAY scored in the fourth quarter and got the two-point conversion," Larson said. "We had three turnovers and missed a field goal in the second quarter. We'd like to replay that game. We had a 14-point lead heading into the third quarter."

Against the Wolverines, Roiger had two deflected passes, three tackles and three catches for 89 yards. But this time, the Blackjacks will attempt to reverse the outcome of their previous match-up.

"We'll have to stop their passing game," Roiger said. "That will be one of the biggest factors. They beat us on a couple of big passing plays. If we eliminate those big plays, I definitely think we can do it."

Roiger is one of 14 seniors on the talented Blackjack team, so it's easy to be overshadowed by the success of other teammates. But Roiger has developed into a solid all-around player said Larson.

"Andrew has scored in all phases of the game," he said. "Not only is he our go-to receiver, he's had the most punt returns this season too, which probably gets overlooked. He's also a pretty good blocker on the perimeter. He's very strong. At our level, I'd say he has the strength of an offensive linesman.

D-B likes to establish the run and running back Matt Anderson has picked up 1,129 yards for the team so far. Quarterback Ryan Swenson is 58-for-100 passing for 853 yards.

"We have a lot of different options to go to," said Roiger. "They can't just focus on one person. With all the rain days, we haven't been passing as much because it's hard to throw a nice ball when it's wet. It's a little frustrating as a receiver, but I still have to do my role in blocking to make big plays happen."

Larson said that Roiger was a quarterback at the JV level before being moved to the receiver position as a sophomore.

"Andrew had a great sophomore season with about 20 catches for eight or nine touchdowns," he said. "He's become a much better route runner. He's always had the speed, good size and good hands. He's also even-keeled. We have other kids around him too, but Andrew definitely helps us be a balanced team."

As a cornerback on defense, Roiger is tied for second in the area after coming up with four interceptions so far this season. He is tied with Lakeview's Ryan Kurtenbach, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Josh Soupir and Westbrook-Walnut Grove's Aaron Theissen.

Roiger has also accumulated 28 tackles and seven deflected passes this season. In addition to returning nine punts for 218 yards and one touchdown, Roiger has returned four kickoffs for 132 yards and touchdown.

"I feel like I've stepped it up a little bit defensively this year," Roiger said. "I'm definitely more comfortable and confident. I'm more familiar with the defense we run. It's my second year returning the ball too. I did pretty good last year and I was looking forward to it this season."

After defeating Renville County West 54-7 in the season-opener, D-B handled TMB 55-20 and then routed Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 41-0. Roiger had an impressive performance against the Knights with five catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns.

The Blackjacks moved to 5-0 as they continued to roll with a 35-6 win over Murray County Central and a 68-6 victory over Ortonville. Roiger averaged 48.0 yards per catch against the Trojans. He caught three passes for 144 yards and scored two touchdowns.

D-B's winning streak skidded to a halt after coming up short against Minneota in a 33-26 loss.

"Minneota's a great football team," said Larson. "Both teams left some points on the field, but we fumbled twice in the red zone. It was 13-7 going into the fourth quarter and both teams scored three times. You have to make plays against them."

Roiger had a season-high seven catches for 76 yards against the Vikings. Swenson found Roiger in the end zone on one of those grabs.

"Minneota's a pretty good team, but we made our own mistakes," Roiger said. "We stuck with it though till the end. If we made less mistakes, it would have been a lot closer. They're a team we can compete with. We'd definitely like another match-up against them."

The Blackjacks got back on track with a 14-6 victory over Adrian, but then fell to the Wolverines to finish in a three-way tie in the Little Sioux Conference this year. Adrian and MACCRAY also had a 6-2 record.

With the second round of playoffs at bay, Larson believes they'll have to make the most plays and have the least amount of mistakes to come out on top of the Wolverines.

"Whichever team wins between us and MACCRAY will have to play one hell of a game to beat Minneota. They're better defensively than both of us. I think that's the biggest difference. MACCRAY has a great quarterback and a couple of guys up front that are very good. But our kids are feeling pretty good, especially after Tuesday's game."

The Blackjacks and Wolverines will kick off at 1 p.m. today in Maynard.

"We lost to MACCRAY by one point, so we have the potential to beat them," said Roiger. "It will be a good battle. We'll go out full steam. We're excited and it's all we think about all day."