UMD Wins Thriller

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

If the University of Minnesota Duluth was looking for an encore to last week’s thrilling comeback victory over the defending NCAA II champions, they found it Saturday afternoon in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Zach Zweifel hit quarterback Drew Bauer with a perfectly-thrown nine-yard scoring strike in overtime to cap off a wild 48-45 triumph over undefeated Ouachita Baptist University and send the Bulldogs on to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. UMD, which had ousted 2014 national titleholder Northwest Missouri State University 25-21 seven days ago by scoring 19 unanswered fourth-quarter points, will now face Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival and No. 1 ranked Minnesota State University-Mankato in Mankato on Dec. 6.

“Some way, some how our guys once again found a way to gut it out and get a win,” said UMD head coach Curt Wiese. “We had our backs to the wall quite a few times this afternoon, but we forced some turnovers and made enough offensive plays to win it. We are fortunate to be moving on to the next round and are are excited about playing Mankato next week.”

The  No. 2 Bulldogs (13-0) appeared headed for their first loss of the season with just over four minutes to play, but the Tigers (10-1), who led 39-35 at the time fumbled on back-to-back possessions inside the red zone. On the second of those turnovers, UMD marched 74 yards on 11 plays for the go-head touchdown (a Bauer-to-Zweifel pass from seven yards out) only to have OBU go 58 yards in eight plays and force overtime with Shelton Wooley’s 20-yard field goal with three seconds left on the clock.

Wooley nailed a 37-yard field goal on the Tigers’ first series in overtime before the Bulldogs secured their 14^th victory in 20 lifetime NCAA II playoff games (3-1 in overtime).

It took just two plays for OBU, the Super Region Three’s No. 1, to get on the scoreboard as running Steven Kehner took a handoff, went up the middle and bolted 57 yards for a touchdown (the longest run given up by the Bulldogs this season) 3:24 into the opening quarter.  It then took the Bulldogs about the same amount of time to even the score.  Two snaps after sophomore Beau Bofferding had returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards, junior running back Logan Lauters plowed in from three yards out, the first of his three touchdowns on the day. UMD went on to take a 28-21 lead into halftime and didn’t trail the Tigers again until 5:54 remained in regulation (when running back Steven Kehner scored his fifth and final touchdown of the game).

The two teams combined for 35 points and nearly 300 yards of total offense in a wild fourth quarter. Along with recovering two fumbles, UMD also blocked an extra point (by senior linebacker Gavin Grady) and thwarted a OBU two-point conversion attempt (a pass breakup by junior free safety David Boegel) during the final 15 minutes of regulation.

For just the third time in the last 38 games, the Bulldogs were outrushed by an opponent – the Tigers rolled up 281 yards on the ground (the most given up by UMD this season) – while the visitors finished with 207. Workhorse Logan Lauters, a 2014 All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference first team pick, accounted for 161 of those yards and established a career-high for carries with 32. The 2014 All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference first team pick now has seven 100-yard rushing afternoons this season and 12 for his career and pushed his 2014 rushing total to 1,414 yards – the fourth best single-season figure in program history.

Bauer, 24-2 as collegiate starter, completed 21 of 37 passes for 293 yards and a pair of touchdowns. One of those completions went to Aaron Roth for 56 yards  (the longest catch of the senior wide out’s career), which helped set up Lauter’s second touchdown late in the second quarter.

OBU, the 2014 Great America Conference champions making its first NCAA II playoff appearance, did pierce the Bulldog defense for 576 total yards – the highest output by a UMD foe this fall – in the loss. Boegel paced the Bulldogs with nine tackles while senior outside linebacker Gavin Brown had eight stops. Senior cornerback Daryl Brown had a hand in four tackles, picked off one pass (in the UMD end zone), and forced and recovered a fumble.

“Hats off to our offense and hats off to our defense,” said Wiese. “This is one relentless and resilient group. This must have been like our fourth or fifth fourth-quarter comeback this year. When we were down by a touchdown with two and-a-half minutes left on the clock, there wasn’t one guy on our sideline who had their head down. If they did, it was because they were tired, not because they thought we were out of it.”