Talk about spreading the wealth.
The University of Minnesota Duluth got touchdowns from eight different players -- including three who line up on the defensive side of the football -- and cruised past the University of Mary 63-27 Saturday afternoon in Bismarck, N.D. The Bulldogs closed out the season with a 9-2 overall record and riding an eight-game winning streak. Their postseason fate will be determined tomorrow at 4 p.m. when the NCAA Division II playoff field is officially announced on ncaa.com. UMD was held down the No. 8 spot in last week's Super Region 4 Rankings (the top seven teams qualify for NCAA II postseason play).
UMD, which took a 42-7 lead into halftime, scored on its first three possessions of the afternoon and never looked back en route to defeating the Maruaders (1-10) for the 11th time in 11 lifetime tries. Redshirt freshman quarterback
John Larson took snaps in the opening three quarters and wound up completing 20 of 29 passes for 235 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Two of those scoring tosses went to senior wide out
Dominic Bonner in the first half and another to junior tight end
Jack Sims -- his third touchdown catch as a collegian (all of which have come at the expense of Mary). Sophomore
Ben Everhart, who had been injured the past month, took over the signal calling duties in the final quarter of play and threw for 55 yards while going 5-for-12. UMD senior wide out
James Conner led both teams with a career-best seven receptions (for 69 yards) while junior wide out
Jason Balts had four catches and one touchdown.
The UMD defense generated three touchdowns of their own, getting a pair of fumbles returns from sophomore cornerback
Harry Momoh (15 yards) and junior strong safety
Sam Lynch (68 yards) and a pick six from sophomore cornerback
Bishop McDonald (30 yards). It marked the first three-touchdown day for a Bulldog defensive unit since Sept. 7, 2002 (three vs. Minnesota State University-Mankato). The UMD defense did, however, have their streak of four consecutive games without giving up a point snapped with 4:57 to go in the first quarter when Paul Guptil hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Weissinger.
Senior outside linebacker
Zach Bassuener, in his final collegiate regular season appearance, finished with a team-high nine total tackles to assume the top spot on the 2017 Bulldog charts with 53 stops. UMD, which came into the day tied for the NCAA II lead in turnovers gain, added seven more to that list by recovering six fumbles and picking off one pass.
UMD has now won 13 straight regular season finales and 10 consecutive regular season road games.
