The No. 17 University of Minnesota Duluth football team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday, a 28-18 setback to Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb. in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action.
The Bulldogs were held to a season-low two touchdowns, and the second lowest offensive yard output of the season, (337).
Placekicker Curtis Cox hit a 30 yard field goal at 6:12 of the first quarter, the lone points by either side. But four seconds into the second quarter, WSC threw a 10-yard TD to make it a 10-3 game.
After a 51-yd run set the Bulldogs up just outside the redzone, a few players later, redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper ran a touchdown in from up the middle from a yard out to retake the 10-7 lead.
Wildcat quarterback Nick Bohn ran in a TD from a yard out a little over three minutes later, and UMD trailed an opponent for the first time all season at halftime by a score of 14-10.
WSC struck again 43 seconds into the third quarter, a 75 yard rushing TD to push its advantage to 21-10, but Walljasper and company answered again with a 28 touchdown down the right side of the field to Jimmy Durocher at 11:49. A Walljasper toss to Sam Pitz secured the two-point conversion, and UMD pulled within three points at 21-18.
The Wildcat defense kept the Bulldogs scoreless, including a goal line stand mid-quarter, before they added a touchdown with 8:20 remaining to hand UMD its first defeat of the season.
Overall, UMD had 337 total yards of offense to WSC's 353, 265 of which came on the ground for the Bulldogs. Walljasper led UMD with 126 rushing yards, which doubled as a game-high for either team. Graduate senior running back Chamere Thomas led UMD with three receptions for 20 yards.
On the defensive side, Andrew Klopp and Marcus Glodowski each recorded eight tackles for the Bulldogs, while Tim Pokornowski had six, including a team-high five solo efforts.
UMD will return to Malosky Stadium next weekend to host the University of Mary next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
