WINONA, Minn. — Despite an edge in total yards, turnovers doomed the Minnesota State University Moorhead football team for a second straight week in a 42-14 loss to Winona State Saturday in Winona, Minn.
MSUM is 1-2 overall and in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while Winona State improved to 3-0 overall and in the league.
Five Dragon turnovers led to 28 Winona State points.
"We have to take care of the football," MSUM head coach
Steve Laqua said. "You can't win football games when you turn over the ball. That's the key point."
MSUM outgained Winona State 443-368 and had a five-minute edge in time of possession, but also was minus-3 in turnovers.
Senior linebacker
Abe Roehrich led the Dragon defense with eight tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Junior defensive back
Michael Strand had six tackles and a pass breakup. Sophomore defensive lineman
Miles Baggett had a sack while junior cornerback
Jerry Raye had an interception.
Senior quarterback
Demetrius Carr was 25-of-41 passing for 275 yards and three interceptions. He did rush 11 times for 38 yards and two scores. Senior wide receiver
Damon Gibson had the 16th 100-yard receiving game of his career, hauling in nine catches for 134 yards. Senior receiver
Hunter Braaten had seven catches for 57 yards. Senior running back
Austin Stone had 69 rushing yards on 20 carries.
Winona State turned a Dragon interception into points in the first quarter to make it 7-0. Later in the quarter after Roehrich recovered a fumble MSUM was driving into Warrior territory but fumbled to end the threat. On the next play, Winona State's Darren Beenken hit Isaiah Frandsen for a 67-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
MSUM drove into Warrior territory early in the second quarter but a 38-yard field goal attempt was blocked, leaving the Dragons off the scoreboard.
Moments later, Winona State turned another Dragon interception into a touchdown to make it 21-0. The Warriors added another touchdown with 18 seconds left in the half to make it 28-0.
"As bad as the score was, we had a lot of good things working," Laqua said. "We'd given up a couple of big plays defensively, but the score looked bad because of the turnovers."
The Dragons finally got on the board in the third, going on an 11-play, 75-yard drive which was capped off by a 15-yard touchdown run by Carr to make it 28-7. MSUM had the ball back after a defensive stop in the third but a fumble gave the Warriors the ball at the Dragon 24-yard line, and Winona scored on the next play to make it 35-7.
MSUM drove to the Warrior 1-yard line on its next possession but Winona stopped the Dragons with a goal-line stand. An 11-yard run by Carr with 14:04 left in the game brought MSUM within 35-14 but Winona State added another score to make it 42-14.
"There are some things we can build on, and there are major things we need to correct," Laqua said.
MSUM hosts Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Today's loss marks the eighth straight loss in Winona since their 46-25 victory on Nov. 4, 1995. That victory clinched the 14th conference championship for the Dragons with a 5-0-1 mark that season; they would go on to a 6-3-1 record overall.
