Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The 17th ranked St. Cloud State Huskies engineered a two minute, 44-second drive to score a late second-quarter touchdown, then took the ball on the opening drive of the second half to score a second touchdown to go up by by three scores and dash the Northern State hopes of pulling off the upset on the road Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football action. NSU scored its second touchdwon with two minutes left in the game, but it was too little, too late as the Huskies claimed the 27-14 win.
NSU drops to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in league play with Saturday's loss, while the Huskies improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the loop.
The NSU defense held strong in the opening moments of the game, forcing the Huskies to settle for a Tyler Aldridge field goal on their first possession of the game. SCSU, however, found the end zone from 69 yards out on a Phillip Klaphake to Eli Shoemaker pass play that made it a 10-0 game.
The Wolves responded with a Nick Wanner touchdown throw to an out-stretched
Josh Aho that made it 10-7. NSU had a chance to tie things up after senior
Mike Bogdanovich swallowed up a Husky fumble, but the Wolves misfired on their second field goal opportunity of the game, leaving the Huskies with the advantage.
That proved to be all the opening the Huskies needed, as Klaphake engineered touchdown drives on consecutive possessions sandwiched around the halftime break. Aldridge tacked on a field goal in the third quarter - and missed two in the fourth - to cap the Husky scoring.
The Wolves reclaimed one score late in the game on a pass from Wanner to junior Chris Morton that capped an 80-yard drive, but the Huskies recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock to take the win.
Wanner completed 27-of-37 passes for 243 yards and the two touchdowns for the Wolves, while junior
Kristin James led the charge on the ground with 17 carries for 60 net yards. Wanner's passes went to eight different players, led by Morton's six catches and redshirt freshman
Jordan Piatz's 62 yards.
SCSU countered with a balanced offensive attack, racking up 492 yards of total offense (241 rushing, 251 passing). Brandon Geiss turned 13 carries into 112 yards to lead the ground attack. Klaphake and back-up Brad Meade combined to go 13-for-25 through the air, but ate up chunks of yardage with each of those 13 completions, including the 69-yarder to Shoemaker.
The Wolves return home for two straight games at Swisher Field beginning with next week's Gypsy Days showdown with in-state rival Augustana College. Kick-off is set for 2:30 p.m. The game will also be aired live on Midco SportsNet.
