BISMARCK, N.D. – The Northern State football team forced four University of Mary turnovers and didn't give up any of their own, but couldn't use the mistakes to their advantage Saturday in losing to the University of Mary Marauders by a score of 20-16 at the Community Bowl in Bismarck, N.D. 

BOX SCORE 

With the loss the Wolves fall to 1-7 on the year and 1-6 in the NSIC. The Marauders improve their record to 5-3 overall and 5-2 in the Northern Sun with the victory, and have now won all four meetings between the two schools. 

Mary got on the scoreboard first with a 27-yard field goal by Rett Thibodeaux at the 10:32 of the first quarter. 

There would be no more scoring in the game until the 2nd quarter when, after a muffed snap on a Mary punt, the Northern State offense pushed from 15 yards out and scored on a 1-yard run by Joei Fiegler to put the Wolves up 6-3 with 7:17 remaining in the quarter. The Thomas Parrott extra point would be good to bring the score to 7-3 in favor of Northern State. 

After consecutive sacks by Ryan Olerud and Anthony Ponzo, Jr. the Marauders were forced to punt and the Wolves took over on their own 13-yard line with 1:57 remaining in the half. Fiegler then went 7-7 on the drive for 54 yards and added a 7-yard rush to get the ball down to the Marauder 20-yard line with four seconds remaining. Thomas Parrott then booted a 30-yard field goal to put the Wolves up 10-3 as the time expired on the half. 

Mary would strike first in the second half when Terry Newsome caught a 50-yard touchdown pass that bounced off of a couple of Northern defenders to tie the game up at 10 points a piece. 

The Wolves would answer right back and move the ball down to the 30-yard line, but the drive would stall and Parrott kicked his second field goal of the day from 40 yards out to put the Wolves ahead once again by a 13-10 score with 8:21 remaining in the third quarter. 

The Marauders came right back and kicked a field goal of their own on the next drive when Thibodeaux kicked a 33-yarder to tie the game up once again. 

The Wolves then moved the ball down the field again on the ensuing drive, but it would stall once again when they got deep into Marauder territory and Tommy Parrott kicked his third field goal of the game, this time from 29 yards out, to give the Wolves a 16-13 lead as the clock timed out on the third quarter. 

The Marauders used their run game, and more specifically, Jamal Lomax, to put the final score on the board on the first drive of the fourth quarter to put the home team up 20-16 on a 12-yard scamper. 

The Wolves would get two more chances to score but could not get any points on the board. 

Fiegler led the offense in the loss, going 20-33 for 136 yards passing and scoring the only touchdown on a 1-yard run. 

Montrel Richardson notched 80 rushing yards on 17 carries (4.7 avg) and finished with 136 all-purpose yards. Chad Morrison added 41 yards on 10 carries in helping the Wolves to finish with 129 rushing yards. 

Brian Jark finished with a team-high seven catches for 44 yards, and with his seven catches, passes Damian Hoffman of Minnesota-Morris for 2nd all-time in NSIC career receptions with 189 now in his career. Logan Masters of Wayne State finished with five catches in their win over Winona State Saturday, and has 193 in his career for the all-time lead. 

Defensively, the Wolves were led by Chris Hurd and his seven tackles on the afternoon. Adam Carvajal added 5-1/2 tackles, one tackle for loss, and an interception he returned 51 yards. Anthony Ponzo added five tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble to round out the top defensive performers for the Wolves. 

Northern State will try to get back in the win column again next Saturday when they host MSU-Moorhead (2-6, 1-6 NSIC) at Clark Swisher Field in the Wolves first night home-game of the season. MSU-Moorhead lost 59-14 to #7 Minnesota State Saturday in Mankato.