The largest crowd in the 50-year history of James S. Malosky Stadium, some 6,157 strong, certainly got their money's worth Saturday afternoon as they watched the No. 25 Bulldogs stave off a late St. Cloud State University rally and prevail 34-27 on a near-perfect autumn afternoon.
With the victory, their 14
th consecutive at home and sixth in a row over St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs improved to 4-2 overall while the Huskies fall to 3-3 on the year.
UMD never trailed the entire afternoon and reeled off 21 straight points to take a 34-12 lead into the fourth quarter before the Huskies struck for a pair of touchdowns six minutes apart. St. Cloud State was driving for the potential game-tying score with 1:03 left, but the Bulldogs freshman safety
Sam Lynch batted down a pass on a fourth-and-two situation from their 27-yard line to seal the win.
St. Cloud State rolled up 494 yards of total offense, the most given up by the Bulldogs this fall, 424 of which came from the right arm of Nate Meyer. The Husky junior quarterback threw for four touchdowns while completing 33 of 53 passes, but was picked off once. That interception proved costly as it was returned 22 yards for a third-quarter touchdown by senior inside linebacker
Brent Stiglich -- his first collegiate pick (and touchdown). Stiglich wound up with a game-high and personal-best 11 total tackles, including one sack, forced one fumble and had one pass breakup.
Junior quarterback
Drew Bauer paced the Bulldogs offensively with 88 rushing yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and was 11-of-20 through the air for another 191 yards and one score. His one scoring strike went 49 yards to junior wide out
Beau Bofferding with 1:48 to go before halftime. UMD also got a pair of one-yard touchdown runs from freshman
Jamiah Newell (which put UMD up 6-0 a little less than two minutes into the game) and junior transfer
Darren Walker (his first score as a Bulldog).
The Bulldogs, who are now a perfect 25-0 lifetime against NSIC North Division competition, will pay a visit to the University of Mary (0-6 overall) next Saturday.
"To break an attendance record means a lot to our football team and hats off to the community," said UMD head coach
Curt Wiese, whose Bulldogs managed 356 total yards, but just 14 first downs (compared to 27 for the Huskies). "Our fans and alumni have been a tremendous support for us. We're heading in the right direction now and excited to head to Mary next week."
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