UMD Runs Past SW State

NSO-NEWS-RELEASE

From its first snap of the night, the University of Minnesota Duluth seemed intent on running the football and once the skies opened up in the second quarter that determination only intensified.

The Bulldogs’ tenacious ground attack pierced the Southwest State Minnesota State defense to the tune of 462 yards and helped lift No. 4 UMD to a 38-7 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory in front of a rain-soaked James S. Malosky Stadium crowd of 3,107 Saturday evening.  The Bulldogs scored the final 31 points of the night while moving to 3-0 on the year and jacking its regular season victory streak to 11 games.

“I don’t think the rain really affected us us too much,” said UMD freshman wide out Nate Ricci, whose 16-yard touchdown reception (his first as a Bulldog) with 3:41 to go before halftime put the Bulldog up for good at 15-7. “It was a little harder to throw the ball, but we were able to pound it in there.”

After Ricci recovered a blocked punt (by junior linebacker Mark Nahorniak) at the Southwest Minnesota State eight-yard line, the Bulldogs needed just two plays on their opening series of the game to get on the scoreboard. Junior running Logan Lauters used back-to-back four-yard runs to register his first touchdown of the season and midway through the first quarter, the Mustangs (1-2) drew even on Charlie Kern’s 33-yard strike to Nathaniel Huot midway through the first quarter. But it was all Bulldogs after that. Ricci’s score and junior Andrew Brees‘ 25-yard field goal gave the Bulldogs an 18-7 lead at the half and touchdown runs by senior running back Austin Sikorski (20 yards), sophomore quarterback Drew Bauer (16 yards) and sophomore wide out Beau Bofferding (9 yards) in the final two quarters completed the victory — UMD’s eighth straight over their long-time NSIC rivals.

For the first time since Nov. 10, 2012, UMD had three players eclipse the 100-yard rush mark — Lauters (18 carries for 154 yards), Bauer (12 for 111) and Sikorski (16 for 103) — and nearly had a school-record fourth in sophomore Caleb Belknap, who came off the bench to run four times for 73 yards. The Bulldogs held Southwest Minnesota State to just 23 yards on the ground (on 29 touches), but Kern and backup quarterback Blake Gimbel did combine to go 25-of-43 through the air for 230 yards with one interception. That pick was turned in by senior Daryl Brown just before halftime. Brown’s starting cornerback partner, junior Darion Fletcher and reserve inside linebacker Brent Stiglich both were credited with a team-high seven total tackles.

Up next for the Bulldogs is a key early-season showdown next Saturday night at Winona State University, which is also off to a 3-0 start and was ranked 24th in this week’s American Football Coaches Association Divison II poll.