Box ScoreAugustana received big plays from both sides of the football as the Vikings defeated Minnesota State 21-15 Saturday night at Howard Wood Field in the North Central Conference opener for both teams. The win is Augustana's sixth-straight win overall and third-straight NCC victory.
Augustana improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the NCC, while MSU fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the NCC.
The six straight wins is the Vikings' longest winning streak since the team won 7 straight contests during the 1959 and 1960 seasons. Augustana won its final 5 games in 1959 before winnings its first 2 in 1960. In addition, it is the first time since the 2000 season that the Vikings have won 3 straight NCC games.
The winning streaks were kept alive thanks to big plays. The Viking defense, which had scored touchdowns in 4 straight games, didn't find the end zone against MSU, but it did put the offense in excellent field position on two occasions.
Midway through the first quarter,
Dustin Rice forced MSU's Bryan Alberty to fumble. Augie's
Nick Bentele recovered the fumble at the MSU 45. Five plays later,
Tommy Flyger threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to
Ryan Rothenberger with 8:53 left in the first quarter.
MSU then scored 10 unanswered points in the second quarter. First, Jonathan Christensen booted a 22-yard field goal, and then Dan Smedberg caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ben King to give the Mavericks a 10-7 lead with 9:21 left in the first half.
The Mavericks were threatening to score again late in the half, but the Vikings held MSU on downs at the Augie 24 with 2:32 left on the clock.
Augustana capitalized on the defensive stand. Flyger completed 3 straight passes, the last being a 41-yard scoring strike to
Tommy Ellingworth with 1:44 left in the half. That helped Augie lead 14-10 at intermission.
There was no scoring in the third quarter until the Viking defense forced another turnover. This time,
Brandon McMichael intercepted a King pass and returned it 15 yards to the MSU 22 with 3:13 remaining in the quarter.
On Augustana's next play, Flyger threw a backward pass to Ellingworth, who then threw the ball to a wide open Rothenberger in the end zone to help put the Vikings ahead 21-10.
Minnesota State tried to rally in the fourth quarter. King connected with Tory Chappell for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 8:25 left in the game. MSU went for the 2-point conversion, but King's pass was incomplete.
However, Augustana was able to run the ball well enough on its next two drives to run out the clock.
Flyger, who had over 400 total yards in last week's win over Concordia-St. Paul, completed 17 of 30 passes for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ellingworth finished with 9 catches for 83 yards and a TD to go along with his touchdown pass. Rothenberger hauled in 4 receptions for 46 yards and a career-best 2 touchdowns.
Defensively,
Nick Ovenden had a game-high 12 tackles, while Rice had 10 stops. The Vikings also sacked King 4 times, including 2 by
Craig Bosch and 1 time each by
Riley Garrigan and
Chris Koopman.
Brian Baumgartner accounted for Augustana's other turnover with his first career interception.
For MSU, King completed 29 of 54 passes for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns. Alberty had 12 catches for 101 yards to go along with 56 yards rushing.
Tony Hunter led MSU with 10 tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.
Augustana will try to improve to 4-0 next week when the Vikings travel to Omaha, Neb., to face Nebraska-Omaha.
