MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team took a 20-13 halftime lead on No. 13 Minnesota Duluth, but the Bulldogs responded with 35 unanswered points in a 48-20 win over the Dragons Saturday night at Scheels Field at Nemzek Stadium.
MSUM fell to 1-1 overall and in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while UMD improved to 2-0 in both.
MSUM had a strong first half, outgaining the Bulldogs 229-186 but the second half was a different story. UMD put up 404 yards of offense and 35 points in the second half while MSUM had zero points and 63 yards of offense. The Bulldogs ended with a 590-272 edge in total offense and held MSUM to minus-10 yards rushing.
"We played with great poise and energy in the first half," MSUM head coach
Steve Laqua said. "In the second half we didn't make the plays. Credit Duluth, they put together four solid quarters of football."
Junior quarterback
Jakup Sinani was 23-of-42 passing for 286 yards and two scores but was also sacked six times. Senior running back
Herman Gray had eight carries for 28 yards while junior receiver
Grady Bresnahan had four catches for 68 yards. Sophomore receiver
Ryan Harvey-Turner and freshman receiver
Ryan Bieberdorf had touchdown receptions.
Sophomore safety
Blake Wilkins had eight tackles, a forced fumble and an interception for MSUM while freshman safety
Parker Syverson had six tackles. Junior defensive lineman
Hunter Sall had 1.5 tackles for loss.
UMD scored first but missed the two point conversion to take a 6-0 lead.
The Dragons drove down the field late int he first quarter and went on a 10-play, 65-yard march. The Dragons converted two fourth downs on the play, including Colgrove's touchdown run on a fourth and one with 2:12 left in the first. With the extra point MSUM led 7-6. Colgrove's touchdown was set up by a 24-yard pass from Sinani to Sweep that brought the Dragons to the UMD 1-yard line.
Early in the second, after a poor UMD punt, Sinani found Harvey-Turner in the right corner of the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown to push the lead to 14-6 with 8:16 left in the half.
UMD responded quickly to cut the lead to 14-13, but a big play pushed the Dragons back up by a score. Freshman
Ryan Bieberdorf hauled in a short pass from Sinani and broke free, and with the aid of a big downfield block by Gray, went on to score to take a 20-13 lead with 5:08 left in the half.
MSUM could have been up more at half but missed an extra point (after a penalty) and also had a field goal hit the upright.
Sinani was 16-of-22 for 245 yards and two scores in the first half alone. MSUM outgained UMD 229-186 in the first half despite having minus-16 yards rushing.
UMD struck quickly in the second half, scoring just 1:30 in to tie the game at 20-20. The Bulldogs then intercepted Sinani on the next series and scored on a touchdown pass and took the lead for good as part of a 28-point third quarter.
MSUM is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Northern State. Kickoff is 6 p.m. in Aberdeen, S.D.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons' last home win vs. Minnesota Duluth was a 17-7 decision on Oct. 15, 1994.
