The University of Minnesota Duluth football team got out early on Concordia University, St. Paul Saturday and stayed there, defeating the Golden Bears 44-32 at James S. Malosky on Senior Day.
The win gives the Bulldogs their eighth triumph of the season and pushes their overall record to 8-2 and 7-2 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Both sides logged impressive offensive numbers, and the Bulldogs jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter alone. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper found Sam Pitz for a 25 yard touchdown at 10:23, and less than a minute later, UMD's defense logged a safety after Jacob Mogensen stuffed the Golden Bears in their end zone. Just a little over two and a minutes later, Walljasper was on the receiving end of a touchdown after Jimmy Durocher tossed him the ball, and Walljasper ran it in from 34 yards out to make it a 24-0 game with 14 seconds left in the opening frame.
CSP got on the board at 12:01, but UMD scored twice in the final 3:38 of the second quarter – a two yard reception TD from Walljasper to Nick Ojile and then another two yard touchdown from Walljasper to Nathan Litke with 18 seconds left in the quarter. A Golden Bear field goal with no time remaining made it a 38-11 Bulldog lead into halftime.
CSP held UMD two two Curtis Cox FGs in the second half – one at 11:37 of the third quarter and another with 4:48 left in the fourth, and scored three touchdowns of their own, including a 26 yard punt return off a block at 13:12 of the fourth frame. The Golden Bear had one final TD reception with 1:31 remaining in regulation, but it wasn't enough to overcome the points pile UMD rolled up in the first half.
The Bulldogs compiled 428 yards of total offense on 241 yards in the air and 197 on the ground, white CSP turned in 421 yards with 302 of them from the air. Both teams were perfect in the red zone on the afternoon – the Bulldogs went 3-of-3, the Golden Bears 4-of-4.
CSP quarterback Conner Cordts threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns, while Walljapser matched his TDs (3) on 207 yards and surpassed him with a TD reception.DaShaun Ames had a UMD-best 75 receiving yards, including a team-long 40 yd effort.
Senior defensive back Marcus Glodowski had a Bulldog-best seven tackles – all solo efforts, while Brady Herbst added six solo tackles. Four players recorded sacks, including Drew Hennessey. Hennessey's sack late in the game pushed him to nine for the season, making him the first player in two seasons to reach the mark and just the 11th time a UMD player has had nine or more sacks in a season.
UMD will wrap up its regular season next weekend when it travels to No. 10 Minnesota State University, Mankato on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
