Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Minnesota State University Moorhead scored the first points of the day on a first-quarter touchdown, but the Northern State Wolves answered with 16 unanswered points and sealed their second victory of the season with a late fourth-quarter interception return to down the visiting Dragons by a 16-7 tally Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football action.

The win moves the Wolves to 2-8 overall and 2-7 in NSIC play, while the Dragons drop to identical 2-8 overall and 2-7 NSIC marks with their sixth straight loss.

The Dragons easily outdistanced the Wolves in terms of total offense, racking up 359 yards on the day to just 290 for the Wolves, but threw three costly interceptions – all in the second half – that thwarted their offensive efforts.

Sophomore free safety Marquis Mulkey turned a third quarter Kevin Koch pass attempt into the Wolves' first pick-six of the season, returning the interception 48 yards to the endzone to give the Wolves a 13-7 lead with 3:28 left in the period.

Senior Thomas Parrott added a 22-yard field goal midway through the fourth to cap the day's scoring for both teams.  Junior Greg Henderson and redshirt freshman Mike Tuch then ended the Dragons' next two possessions with interceptions to keep the Wolves in control of the ball.  Tuch returned his pick-off, which came inside the 2:00 mark of the fourth quarter, all the way to the Dragon 2-yardline before being run out of bounds, allowing the Wolves to line up in victory formation and run out the clock.

MSU Moorhead had taken the first lead on their second possession of the game.  After forcing the Wolves to punt, the Dragons went to work from their own 20-yardline, driving 80 yards in just four plays, three of which went for 20 yards or more.  Koch capped the drive with a 35-yard catch-and-run pass to Nick Scharpf down the sideline.

The Dragons looked to add a second touchdown to the scoreboard on their next possession, taking the ball all the way to the Wolves' nine yardline on a drive that was kept alive by a successful fake punt.  However, three of the next four Dragon plays went for negative yards (rush for a loss, false start penalty, quarterback sack), and the Wolves turned a 1st-and-goal opportunity into a punting situation.

NSU did not answer the early Dragon score until late in the second period.  After a missed field goal attempt from MSUM's Wes Kramer, the Wolves took over at their own 20 yardline and went to work.  Eight plays into the drive, however, the Wolves were looking at fourth-and-six from the Dragon 44 and appeared stalled out just inside Dragon territory.  The Wolves sent the punting unit onto the field, but at the last minute handed the ball off to sophomore Mark Hanley, who carried the end-around fake down to the 25 yardline and kept the drive alive.

Two plays later, senior quarterback Joei Fiegler found redshirt freshman Trevor Mau in the far corner of the endzone for a 25-yard score.  Parrott's point-after attempt, however, ricocheted off the left upright and back into the endzone, leaving the score 7-6 in favor of the Dragons.

There the score would remain through the first 11 and a half minutes of the third quarter until Mulkey jumped in front of Koch's pass attempt and scampered his way to pay dirt.

The Wolves showcased a balanced offensive effort, as their leading rusher (junior Chad Morrison) notched 43 yards on the ground and their leading receiver (Mau) hauled in four catches for 55 yards. 

Defensively, junior Mike Bogdanovich notched eight tackles to lead the way, while a slew of teammates had six apiece.

MSUM got a strong performance from running back Eboni Luckious-West, who carried the ball 23 times for 108 net yards.

The Wolves finish out the 2010 season next weekend on the road, traveling to Bismarck, N.D. to face off against the University of Mary.  The Marauders are coming off a 21-19 upset victory over Winona State on the road on Saturday.  Kick off for next week's contest is set for 2:30 p.m.