WINONA, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragon football team (0-2, 0-1 NSIC) opened the 2010 conference season on the road Saturday, with a 58-3 loss against No. 19 Winona State Warriors (2-0, 1-0 NSIC).

The Dragons forced the Warriors to go three-and-out in the first drive of the game, forcing WSU to punt after only gaining seven yards on the drive.
The Dragons picked up a first down on the second down of their first drive as quarterback Kevin Koch connected with Kendall Hendon for an 11-yard gain on a second and nine. The Dragons could not convert their next series as Patrick Haynes booted a 45-yard punt on fourth down.

Winona State marched down the field in their next possession and put the first score on the board. A tough Dragon defense held the Warriors out of the endzone, from a first and goal on Moorhead's eight-yard line.The Dragons stuffed a running play and forced two incomplete passes. WSU's Thomas Kinney kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Warriors on fourth down to tally the score.

The Dragons maintained possession for all but the last minute of the first quarter holding the score at 3-0.

What looked like a bright start to the conference season for the Dragons, fell apart in the second quarter as Winona State stepped up their game and scored 27 points to move the score to 30-0 at halftime.

The home team scored on their first drive in the second quarter on a seven-yard pass from Evan Aber to Derrick Engel to increase their lead to 10. They would tack on 27 more points on a 60-yard punt return by Curtis Dewberry, another Engel touchdown and a Rayon Simmons one-yard rush.

In the third quarter, the first points of the 2010 season were tallied for the Dragons by the foot of Wes Kramer as he kicked a 31-yard field goal to wipe the zero from the board. Kramer, in his rookie debut as the field goal kicker was 1-for-2 in the game.

The three points in the third would be the only points for the Dragons as Winona tallied 14 more points in each the third and fourth quarters to take the 58-3 win.

Koch went 14-for-29 in the game throwing for 144 yards. Bryson Pluta, coming in for the Dragons final drive, was 2-for-5, throwing for 21 yards. Travis Davidson and Andrew Joyce led the Dragons on defense as each tallied five total tackles.

The Dragons will host their first home game of the season on Sept. 18 at Alex Nemzek Stadium against the Upper Iowa Peacocks. The game is set to kick-off at 1 p.m.