Off to a 0-1 start for the first time this century, the University of Minnesota Duluth was in need of a bounce-back win Saturday night and the Bulldogs got just that with a convincing 48-7 victory over Wayne State College.
Photo Gallery The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference interdivision clash marked the opening of the 50th season of play at Malosky Stadium, where the Bulldogs have enjoyed a substantial amount of success over those five decades -- particularly against Wayne State. The victory, which came in front of a capacity crowd of 4,771, was UMD's seventh in seven lifetime meetings with the Wildcats in Duluth and hiked its home winning streak to 12 games.
The No. 9 Bulldogs, who have outscored the Wildcats 317-85 in those seven lifetime Malosky Stadium bouts and have yet to be held to under 41 points, got a three-touchdown night from junior wide out
Beau Bofferding and a pair of rushing scores from freshman running back Namiah Newell while accumulating 533 yards of total offense. Bofferding scored all three of his touchdowns in the opening 14:47 of play, hauling in two scoring strikes (29 and 3 yards) from junior quarterback
Drew Bauer en route to taking a 22-0 first-quarter lead. Senior placekicker
Andrew Brees tacked on a 24-yard field goal midway through the second quarter before Bauer hit an outstretched
Jason Balts in the end zone for a 25-yard score with 1:24 to go in the half. Newell sandwiched his first two collegiate touchdowns (a 48-yard run and a 70-yard jaunt) junior
Tyler McLaughlin's 27-yard field goal to put UMD up 48-0 early in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats (1-1), who picked up 136 of their 300 total yards in the final 15 minutes of play, spoiled the Bulldogs shut out bid with a six-yard touchdown pass with 6:22 to go in the game.
All-American
Logan Lauters rushed for a game-high 149 yards on just 13 carries while Newell rushed seven times for 135 yards. His 70-yard touchdown scamper was the longest run from scrimmage by a Bulldogs since 2011 (
Austin Sikorski, 75 yards). Bauer was not only effecient (he completed 17 of 21 passes for 180 yards and three scores), but spread those 17 completions amongst eight receivers. That included Bofferding, who led all Bulldogs with four catches. Both Balts and senior
Justin Fowlkes had three receptions for UMD, which is now 51-1 at home versus NSIC competition since Oct. 21, 2000.
Over 60 Bulldogs saw playing time in the victory, many of whom were making their UMD debuts. Twenty seven different Bulldogs figured in on tackles with sophomore free safety
Kegan Wirtz (eight) and sophomore linebacker Gus Weding (six) topping that list.
"It was great to see some younger players step up and make some plays like
Jamiah Newell and
Jason Balts did," said UMD head coach
Curt Wiese, who boosted his career record to 25-4. "These kids deserve to play and this was the first time a lot of them got some game experience."
UMD will make its first-ever trip to the University of Sioux Falls next Saturday to take on the No. 15 Cougars (2-0).
