Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. - After battling to a 14-14 tie at halftime, the Northern State Wolves caught few breaks in the second half as they dropped their season and home opener to the visiting Missouri Western State Griffons Thursday night by a final score of 38-27.
     Sophomore quarterback Eric Ellingson threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns on the day, while junior Brian Jark tallied 105 yards receiving and 186 all-purpose yards for the Wolves.  Ellingson was effective in spreading the ball around, as he connected with nine different receivers. Sophomore Trent DesLauriers, senior Tavis Ve'e, senior Mike Stamps and sophomore John Michael Migdal all had TD receptions for the Wolves.
    Ve'e also had a solid game in the backfield, carrying the ball 15 times for 63 yards, including a long of 35.
    Missouri Western, however, countered the balanced Wolves attack with a mixture of speed and size, both through the air and on the ground.  Sophomore quarterback Drew Newhart threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns on the day.
    Junior receiver Cedric Houston had 173 receiving yards, while senior running back Zach Walker picked up 173 yards on the ground.
    The Griffons got on the scoreboard first on a 48-yard TD pass from Newhart to Houston.  The Wolves retaliated with an impressive drive of their own, which featured a dramatic 35-yard run by Ellingson on fourth-and-one from the Griffon 48-yardline.  Ellingson then found Ve'e on a 13-yard pass play to tie things up following the extra point.
    MWSU again scored on its next possession, going 43 yards on 10 plays, capped by a 1-yard Walker dive into the endzone with 14:17 left to play in the first half.  Not to be outdone, the Wolves again tied things up two possessions later on a 2-yard pass from Ellingson to Migdal to make it 14-all heading into the break.
    The Griffons threatened late in the half as they marched to the NSU 21-yardline with under three minutes to play, but a holding penalty and two consecutive sacks by the Wolves defense effectively thwarted the attack.
    MWSU wasted little time in regaining the lead in the second half, going 93 yards on three plays in its first possession of the half to go up 21-14 at the 10:22 mark of the third quarter.  The Griffons tacked on a fourth TD with under two minutes left in the period, before adding another quick score with 1:27 left on a Sylvester Gibson interception return, one of two picks the senior had on the night.
    NSU mounted a strong comeback effort in the fourth quarter, picking up a pair of touchdowns while limiting the Griffons to just one field goal in the period.  But it was too little, too late, as MWSU recovered an onside kick attempt with just over a minute left to play and ran out the clock to clinch the victory.
    Defensively, junior Anthony Ponzo had a game-high 13 tackles, including a 4-yard sack and a pair of tackles for a loss to lead the Wolves.  Senior Bryar Johnson also added eight tackles on the night.
    Bradley Davidson and Christian Sandoval combined for 22 tackles for the Griffons.  Davidson also tallied 1.5 sacks and three total tackles for a loss.
    NSU will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the Wolves kick off the Northern Sun conference portion of their schedule at Winona State.  The Warriors are scheduled to play Michigan Tech on Saturday for their season opener.