Box Score
It might have been miserable weather conditions for the 3,616 spectators who gathered at James S. Malosky Stadium Saturday afternoon, but the gusty winds, steady drizzle and cool temperatures didn't seem to bother the University of Minnesota Duluth one bit.

The Bulldogs' game plan was to run the football, and run they did, rolling up a season-high 471 yards on their way to a convincing 34-7 Homecoming victory over St. Cloud State University in a battle of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division frontrunners. UMD's other main objective was to keep Phillip Klaphake in check and the No. 11 Bulldogs held the standout senior Husky quarterback to just 102 passing yards.

No. 18 St. Cloud State (4-1 overall) took its only lead of the afternoon early in the second quarter on a three-yard run by Klaphake, but UMD answered by scoring twice in the final 28 seconds of the first half, getting the first of those touchdowns from sophomore Eric Kline off a fake field goal attempt. That capped an 11-play, 97-yard drive that started after the Bulldogs (4-1) halted St. Cloud State on a momentum swinging fourth-and-two situation from UMD's three-yard line.  Junior running back Austin Sikorski rushed 17 times for 177 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore Logan Lauters finished with 107 yards and two scores on 12 carries.

"We just stuck to our game plan and the offensive line did a great job all day," said Sikorski, whose touchdown runs of 66 and 31 yards midway through the second half closed out the Bulldog scoring. "We did what we needed to in the second half. They had had our number the last two years (beating the Bulldogs twice), but we took care of business today."

UMD freshman Drew Bauer put up only 14 passes the entire day, completing four of them while his counterpart, Klaphake, the 2013 NSIC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, went 13-for-29. Senior defensive end Jordan Bauman came off the bench to register a team-high and career-best nine total tackles and senior inside linebacker Colby Ring had seven stops and a pair of pass breakups to pace UMD defensively.

UMD, which has now won five straight at home over the Huskies and eight of the last 10 overall meetings, limited St. Cloud State to its lowest point total since a 31-7 victory at their expense four years ago in Duluth.

The Bulldogs will be at Minnesota State University-Moorhead next Saturday afternoon.