Box Score MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team made a big splash in its debut on the new Scheels Field on Thursday night, recording a 42-17 season-opening win over Winona State in front of a crowd of 3,818 fans.
It was the Dragons' first win over Winona State since Nov. 3, 1996, ending a 14-game losing streak against the Warriors. MSUM improved to 1-0 on the season while Winona State fell to 0-1.
"It was a great win for our program," MSUM head coach
Steve Laqua said. "It was an electric atmosphere. We're appreciative and thankful to all of the people who made this day possible."
MSUM's defense delivered big in key situations, forcing two red-zone turnovers in the first quarter and holding the Warriors to just 139 rushing yards. Redshirt freshman safety
Michael Strand had 11 tackles, while junior linebacker
Aaron Bohl had 10. Senior cornerback
Chris Binford had an interception while senior safety
Garrett Shelley had a fumble recovery.
Offensively, senior quarterback
Jake Hodge was 13-of-22 passing for 217 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 92 yards. Senior receiver
Adam Jiskra had four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown while sophomore wide receiver
Damon Gibson had two catches for 63 yards and two scores. Redshirt freshman
Kayne Griffith rushed for 70 yards on 16 carries for MSUM, while senior running back
Zayne Medhaug had 20 carries for 69 yards and a score.
The defense delivered early for the Dragons in two critical situations in the first quarter. Winona State drove to the Dragon 5-yard line on its first possession of the game, but sophomore Dragon defensive end
Drew Lingle forced a fumble by Direll Clark on a first-and-goal, and Shelley recovered the fumble.
Moments later, after a Dragon punt, Winona State drove down the field and was inside the 5-yard line again. This time, Binford intercepted a pass in the end zone to thwart the Warriors' threat.
"The defense took a big step forward," Laqua said. "It was fun to see them make plays that positively impacted the game."
The game was deadlocked at 0-0 until midway through the second quarter. With the wind at its back, MSUM drove 75 yards on eight plays, and scored when Hodge hit senior receiver
Preston Prince for a 28-yard touchdown, putting MSUM in front 7-0 with 7:13 left in the first half.
Later in the corner, Medhaug found the end zone from eight yards out, capping off a 10-play, 58-yard drive. That score put MSUM up 14-0 with 1:06 left in the half.
Senior
Steve Schutz helped keep the Warriors off the scoreboard late in the half, blocking a field goal attempt to keep the score at 14-0.
"It was a big of a shaky start, but we battled through and bounced back beautifully in the second quarter," Laqua said.
Winona State cut the lead to 14-7 with a touchdown to open the second half. The Dragons answer with a nine-play, 68-yard drive and scored when Hodge hit Medhaug from 11 yards out. With
Joe Tjosvold's extra point, the Dragon lead grew to 21-7.
The Warriors added a field goal to make it 21-10. The Dragons answered again, going 87 yards on five plays, and scoring when Hodge hit Gibson for a 49-yard score, pushing the Dragon lead to 28-10 with 2:09 left in the third.
After the Dragon defense forced a three-and-out, MSUM responded quickly, going 45 yards in just three plays, and scoring on a 39-yard pass from Hodge to Jiskra. With Tjosvold's extra point, MSUM pushed the lead to 35-10 with 15 seconds left in the third.
The Dragon defense forced a turnover on downs to start the fourth quarter. The offense then put the game away, going on a 16-play, 71-yard drive that took 8:57 off the clock in the fourth. The drive was culminated with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Hodge to Gibson on fourth down, giving the Dragons a 42-10 lead with just 3:05 left.
MSUM had 455 yards of total offense while Winona State had 488. MSUM's offense did not commit a turnover on the day while Winona State committed two.
"For the first game, I was happy with how we took care of the football," Laqua said. "That is a key piece for winning football. I was pleased with how we spread the ball around to everybody on offense."
The Dragons will resume on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Concordia-St. Paul.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight's win marks the first time that the Dragons are 1-0 in the NSIC since they won at Minnesota-Crookston 35-20 on Sept. 20., 2003.
