For the second straight week, the University of Minnesota Duluth appeared poised for a fourth-quarter comeback, but Nate Gunn had other plans Saturday night.

With UMD trailing by just a touchdown and a little under three minutes to go in regulation, the Minnesota State University-Mankato running back bust loose for a 47-yard touchdown run and sealed the Mavericks' 38-23 victory over the Bulldogs in a battle of NCAA Division II heavyweights at James S. Malosky Stadium. Gunn finished with 229 yards on 37 carries while wide out Shane Zylstra caught eight passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns for the Minnesota State, which improved to 3-0 while handing No. 20 UMD its second home loss of the young 2017 season.
 

A festive Military Appreciation Night crowd of 4,557 saw the Bulldogs (1-2 overall) take a 8-0 lead midway through the first quarter when junior running back Anthony Wood bolted up the middle and broke several tackles before going 15 yards for a score. Senior Nate Ricci's folllowed that up with a two-point conversion run, but Minnesota State peeled off 24 consecutive points to go up 24-8 early in the third. Ricci (nine yards) and junior wide out Jason Balts (17 yards) sandwiched scoring strikes from sophomore Ben Everhart around Zylstra's final touchdown of the evening to make it 31-23 with still 9:09 left in the fourth quarter. Minnesota State went 3-and-out on their next drive, but so did the Bulldogs one series later. The Mavericks, who have now won four straight at UMD's expense, then mounted a 6-play 58-yard scoring drive with Gunn doing all of the offensive damage.

Everhart, who was making his collegiate starting debut and just his fsixthappearance overall, completed 24 of 43 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns in the setback. Balts was on the receiving end of a team-high eight of those passes (which he parlayed into 130 yards) while Ricci had five receptions.

"I'm proud of Ben," said UMD Head Coach Curt Wiese. "I thought that he played extremely well tonight, very seasoned and calm."

As he had done in last Saturday's 33-21 takedown of Upper Iowa Universitiy, Wood paced the Bulldogs in rushing, generating 39 yards on six tries in addition to a two-point conversion run. As a team, the Bulldogs totaled just 59 yards on the ground, compared to 244 yards for the Mavericks. Minnesota State also held a 497-384 yard advantage in total yards and held the ball for over three minutes more than the hosts (marking only the second time in the past 19 games UMD failed to not hold the upper hand in time of possession). Both UMD junior linebacker Gus Wedig (11) and sophomore cornerback Bishop McDonald (a career-high 10) topped the double-digit mark for tackles while senior free safety Kegan Wirtz had the game's only interception -- his first of the season and third of his career.

"Overall, it was a good effort by our guys," said Wiese. "We gave up a couple of big plays and kind of shot ourself in the foot, but I thought we battled hard all night."

UMD will next pay a visit to Wayne State College next Saturday afternoon  (Sept. 23) for its final Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference interdivision assignment of the season.