ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Turnovers and big plays proved costly for the Minnesota State University Moorhead football team as the Dragons  fell to St. Cloud State, 59-21 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday in St. Cloud, Minn.

MSUM fell to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in the NSIC North Division with the loss while St. Cloud State improved to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC North.
The Dragons committed four turnovers – all coming on first-half interceptions – and also surrendered five scoring plays of 50 yards or more in the first half.

"At the end of the day, we turned the ball over too much and gave up too many big plays defensively, particularly in the first half," MSUM head coach Steve Laqua said. "It's unfortunate we couldn't stop that momentum, on both sides of the ball."

Freshman running back Herman Gray led the ground game with 64 yards on 11 carries while senior running back Zayne Medhaug had 55 rushing yards and a touchdown. Redshirt freshman running back Kayne Griffith rushed for a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Demetrius Carr was 12-of-28 passing for 196 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted four times, all in the first half. Freshman receiver Evan Moore had five catches for 30 yards while sophomore receiver Damon Gibson had two catches for 101 yards and a score.

Five Dragons shared the team lead with five tackles: senior corner Chris Binford, junior linebacker Aaron Bohl, sophomore safety Abe Roehrich, redshirt freshman linebacker Joe Rademacher and redshirt freshman cornerback Jerry Raye. Sophomore defensive linemen Jake Busse and Drew Lingle each had sacks. Redshirt freshman safety Michael Strand had an interception.

St. Cloud State returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to take a 59-21 lead 14 seconds into the game. MSUM answered with a big play of its own, a 72-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Gibson, to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:22 left in the first quarter.

The Huskies  answered with a 44-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead. Later in the quarter, Jaden Huff broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run to build the lead to 21-7.

After the Dragons were intercepted, Strand stopped a SCSU threat with an interception in the end zone. However, two plays later, the Huskies intercepted Carr, setting up a 24-yard field goal by Derek Witte. The Huskies intercepted two more Carr passes in the second, one which was returned for a pick six, on its way to a 45-7 halftime lead.

The Dragons found the end zone to open the third quarter. The Dragons marched 78 yards on seven plays in 2:07 and scored on a 12-yard run by Medhaug to climb within 45-14. A key play on the drive was a 38-yard pass from Carr to junior receiver Cory Ambrose.

MSUM cut the lead to 45-21 on the first play of the fourth when Griffith capped off a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard score.

"Our guys played inspired ball in the third quarter," Laqua said. "We left the scoreboard behind and worked to play a good third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it was a good chance for us to get some young guys some good reps so they can improve and keep getting better."

The Huskies added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to make the final count 59-21.

MSUM will host the University of Mary at 1 p.m. on Nov. 7 in its home finale.

"It's important to start well, and we've got to make sure we battle the adversity better than we did," Laqua said. "We've got to get ourselves healthy and get ready to play good football tehse last two weeks."

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The last time the Dragons played on Halloween with in 2009 where they lost 47-0 to St Cloud State. Their previous Halloween game saw the Dragons win 56-0 at the University of Minnesota- Morris in 1998.