Minnesota State University-Moorhead has never beat the University of Minnesota Duluth this century and on Saturday, the Bulldogs needed a fourth-quarter rally to keep it that way.
Trailing 14-10 heading into the final 15 minutes of play, the Bulldogs struck for a pair of touchdowns midway through the quarter and shut down the Dragons the rest of the way en re route to a 23-14 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division victory. It marked the 16th consecutive win in a row for UMD against its longtime rivals, a run that started in the 2000 season.
UMD, now 4-2 on the year, managed just 273 yards of total offense (its second lowest output of season), but the Dragons did not fare a whole lot better generating 285 overall yards, including only 19 via the rush (on 26 carries). The Bulldogs did, however, force four turnovers (three fumble recoveries and one interception) while doing what it does best -- hold on to football (a sizable 36:03 to 23:57 advantage).
Redshirt freshman running back
Griffin Hill took a swing pass from sophomore quarterback
Ben Everhart and parlayed his first collegiate reception into his first collegiate touchdown (an 11-yard score) 47 seconds in the second quarter. That 7-0 UMD advantage remained until the 12:07 mark of the third quarter when Bulldog sophomore placekicker
Dan Branger made good on a 36-yard field goal. MSU-Moorhead (2-4 overall) got on the board with a touchdown on the ensuing possession and then took its first lead of the afternoon with another score with 4:16 to go in that same quarter.
Four minutes into the fourth quarter, senior wide out
Dominic Bonner hooked up on a 20-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman quarterback
John Larson, who replaced the injured Everhart early in the second half, before junior running back
Anthony Wood iced the triumph by scampering 13 yards into the end zone. Wood led all rushers with 53 yards on 14 attempts while senior wide out
James Conner (five receptions for 82 yards) and Bonner (four catches for 37 yards) paced the Bulldog receiving corps.
Senior outside linebacker
Zach Bassuener (10 total tackles and 1.5 sacks) and junior inside linebacker
Gus Wedig (nine stops) topped the Bulldog defensive charts and both forced a fumble.
The Bulldogs will remain on the road to face Northern State University next Saturday (Oct.14) in another NSIC North Division assignment.
