MARSHALL, Minn. - The 2009 Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons football season came to a close on Saturday afternoon as the team suffered a 52-10 loss at the hands of the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs.
The Dragons end their season with a 2-9 overall record and a 1-9 NSIC tally. SMSU goes to 5-6 overall and 4-6 in the league.
Jeff Schuette forced a fumble on the first drive in the game for Southwest Minnesota State when the Mustangs were on the MSUM 30 yard line.
Jake Larsen recovered the ball for the Dragons.
The after a three-play drive for the Dragons,Southwest recovered the ball and drove 55 yards to take a 7-0 lead at 9:20 in the game. Gannon Moore rushed for a one-yard touchdown at 9:31.
In the resulting kick-off
Joe Johnson took the ball 81 yards down the field after catching it on the Dragons seven and was tackled out of bounds at the Mustangs 12 yard line.
The Dragons could not capitalize on the momentum from Johnson's return and settled for a field goal to cut the lead to four.
SMSU scored on their next possession as Moore tallied his second score of the day to put his team up 14-3.
The Mustangs went up 21-3 to end the first quarter as they blocked a MSUM punt that was recovered by MSUM and forced the change of possession on downs. Ryan Ratekin completed a six yard pass to Blake Wilson to put the hometeam up by 18.
After leading at half, 35-3, the Mustangs tallied seven more four minutes into the second half going up 42-3.
The Dragons matched the Mustangs score in the third quarter as freshman quarterback
Zach Fry connected, from the one yard line, with
Shawn Marlowe, for Marlowe's second touchdown of the season. It was the first time the Dragons had scored a touchdown in the past 13 quarters of action.
In the next play, MSUM's freshman place kicker,
Jimmie Mattson completed an onside kick that was recovered by the Red and White. Nothing would result for the Dragons as they punted the ball eight plays later.
The Dragons controlled hte clock in the game, holding possession for over 32 minutes but were only able ot produce 10 points on 184 yards. MSUM completed both scoring opportunities in the red-zone. The Mustangs had 452 yards of total
offense, most of which came on the ground with 256 yards rushing.
Fry finished the day completing 24-of-42 for 148 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked five times and threw two interceptions. Johnson led the team in receiving with eight catches for 62 yards.
