After a tight game and early quarterback switch, the Bulldogs fought hard in the fourth quarter to put one more touchdown on the board to secure the win over the Mustangs. The Bulldogs finished 31-21 to putting a W in the win column for their first game of the season.
Early in the game the team had to pull starting quarterback
Garrett Olson after he got caught up in a play. Sophomore
Logan Graetz jumped into action at 10:47 in the first and fought hard to pull out 16 complete passes and 234 yards.
"I'm proud of
Logan Graetz," said Head Coach
Curt Wiese "Rather than hanging his head after not starting, he stepped up and played a really good football game. The Mustangs came to play tonight. They played really good football all the way through the fourth quarter."
The defensive line came to play tonight and started early in the game. Linebacker
Brad Dati sacked the quarterback just two minutes into the game for a loss of five yards and led the defense in tackles with nine. Along with Dati's sack early on, the Bulldogs put up two additional sacks, one from
Drew Hennessey where he took 12 yards on his sack. Redshirt-senior
Dayvia Gbor made the two interceptions for the 'Dogs. Late in the second quarter linebacker
Logan Eiden made a fumble recovery that was later used to the Bulldogs advantage.
On offense, the team utilized the fumble recovery in the second to their advantage and wide receiver
Armani Carmickle put up the second touchdown of the night and put a 14 point lead on the Mustangs. Out of the total 211 yards gained, running back
Wade Sullivan notched 134 of them. UMD's player to watch, Carmickle, put up 104 yards on eight complete passes and one touchdown.
The game started off with SMSU possession but was quickly switched back to UMD after a strong defensive battle and a quick sack by Dati. With the Bulldogs first possession of the game they gained two additional first down attempts. Although they couldn't capitalize during this possession, they made sure the next possession to put up 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs were first and goal, where
Byron Bynum rushed six yards to the end-zone securing the lead.
The second quarter brought the Bulldogs two more touchdowns.
Kurtis Weigand completed a 21 yard pass deep right and finished the play in the endzone. The defense continued to put a strong battle holding the lead and keeping the possession for short for the Mustangs. UMD finished the half off with a touchdown following their fumble recovery.
From the start of the second half it became a very defensive battle as the team had to fight to keep their score ahead. SMSU made a 14 point comeback to tie it up 21-21. The Bulldogs were not going to let SMSU take the lead. After fighting a long defensive battle, Graetz made a 43 yard pass to Skifton to score the third touchdown and secured the win. UMD fought the rest of the fourth to hold the lead and finished it off with a good kick to give them three more points. The Bulldogs took the win 31-21.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will pack their bags to take on Minnesota State Sept. 10. for another 6 p.m. kick-off in Mankato.
