BOX SCORE
The Northern State University football team dropped an NSIC North Division matchup against St. Cloud State Saturday by a score of 28-17 in front of 4,032 fans at Husky Stadium in St. Cloud, Minn.
With the loss the Wolves fall to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the Northern Sun. The Wolves have now lost nine straight games dating back to last season. The Huskies improve to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the NSIC with the victory.
The Wolves drew first blood with a Thomas Parrott 22-yard field goal to bring the score to 3-0 in favor of Northern State with 3:23 remaining in the first quarter.
The Huskies answered back in the form of a Jake Machacek 1-yd touchdown run with 14:57 remaining in the second quarter. A Justin Delgado extra point would bring the sore to 7-3 in favor of St. Cloud State.
The score would remain until the Huskies put another one in the end zone in the form of a 21-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Watkins to Tyer NuQyay with 3:56 remaining.
The Wolves would try to bring the ball down the field, but a Fiegler was intercepted by Justin MacPherson.
The Huskies would get far enough into Wolves territory to attempt a 37-yard field goal but the kick was wide left and gave the Wolves the ball back with a little over one minute remaining. The Wolves moved the ball down the field but ran out of time, and the score at halftime remained at 14-3 in favor of the Huskies.
The Wolves forced a SCSU punt on the first drive of the second half, and after a mix of run and pass, quarterback Joei Fiegler lofted a pass over an SCSU defender into the hands of Mark Hanley who tip-toed up the left sideline before cutting inside past a second Husky defender for a 31-yard touchdown. The Parrott extra point would be true to bring the score to 14-10 in favor of SCSU.
The Huskies would be the next to get on the board when Mitch Watkins found Tyler Allery for a 16-yard touchdown to bring the score to 21-10 in favor of the Huskies.
The Huskies added another 1-yard touchdown by Machacek, his second of the day, with 8:14 remaining in the fourth quarter to bring the score to 28-10 in favor of the Huskies.
Montrel Richardson brought the Wolves back to within twelve points when he broke loose through the first level of defenders, stopped on a dime, and then burst up the right sideline untouched for a 61-yard scamper to paydirt. The Parrott point after would be good to bring the score to 28-17 in favor of SCSU with 7:34 remaining in the game.
The Wolves would then force a SCSU punt and would take over on their own 18-yard line with 4:42 remaining in the game. With 2:49 remaining, Fiegler would have a pass intercepted by Joe Everson to give the Huskies the ball at their own 45-yard line.
The Huskies would then run out the remainder of the clock to bring the final score to 28-17.
The Wolves finished the game with 177 rushing yards and 209 passing yards for 386 total offensive yards. St. Cloud State ended with 298 rushing yards and 258 passing yards for 556 total yards of offense.
As he has in every game this season, Montrel Richardson led the way on offense with 289 all-purpose yards (174 rushing, 62 returns, 53 receiving) including a 61-yard scamper for a touchdown. He carried 19 times in the game and had 9.2 yards per carry while recording four catches.
Fiegler ended his day by going 17-34 for 209 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.
Mark Hanley led the receiving corps with four catches for 61 yards and a 31-yard touchdown. Trent DesLauriers finished his day with five catches for 55 yards.
Defensively, the Wolves were led by Chris Hurd who totaled 10 tackles (eight solo) including one sack and one pass break up. Lincoln Smith and Anthony Ponzo, Jr. each recovered a fumble, with Smith also forcing one.
The Wolves will look to regroup next week when they host Bemidji State in the annual Shrine Game on Saturday, September 26th. Game time is slated for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
