Box Score
In a battle between Minnesota Duluth's high-powered offense and Augustana's stingy defense, Minnesota Duluth came out on top, downing Augustana 40-10 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday afternoon at Howard Field.
Minnesota Duluth, which entered the game ranked 15th in the nation, remained unbeaten at 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the NSIC. Augustana evened its record at 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
UMD, the top-ranked scoring offense team in the NSIC at 43.3 points per game, wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard against the Vikings, which featured the league's top scoring defense at 12.3 points per game. The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff 80 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown. Ted Schlafke's 9-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Winfield gave UMD a 7-0 lead with 9:09 left in the first quarter.
Augustana's first drive started promising. Following a 21-yard kickoff return by
Jason Donnelly to the Augie 41, the Vikings quickly got a first down in UMD territory. But Augustana lost yardage on the next three plays and the drive stalled.
The defenses controlled the rest of the quarter, which ended with UMD having 111 total yards compared to minus-5 for the Vikings.
Minnesota Duluth struck again early in the second quarter. Schlafke hooked up with Noah Pauley for a 53-yard scoring strike with 14:14 left in the half to put the Bulldogs in front 14-0.
Schlafke added another touchdown at the 6:25 mark when he scored on a 6-yard run. The extra point failed and the Bulldogs maintained a 20-0 lead.
Minnesota Duluth got the ball back late in the half and threatened to break the game open with another score, but Donnelly intercepted a Schlafke pass in the end zone with 29 seconds left before intermission.
Augustana came out strong in the second half. Taking the second half kickoff, the Vikings steadily marched the ball down the field. After the drive stalled,
Ryan Grossman attempted a 24-yard field goal, but it was blocked at the 10:55 mark. However, the Bulldogs were flagged for a personal foul on the play, giving Augustana a first down at the UMD 12.
On the next play,
Tyler Schulte scampered into the end zone for an apparent 12-yard touchdown. However, the Vikings were called for holding at the UMD 6, pushing the ball back to the Bulldog 16. Augie was unable to get a first down and settled for a 28-yard Grossman field goal to make the score 20-3 with 9:16 left in the third quarter.
Augustana's momentum was short-lived. Behind the running of Issaic Odim, Minnesota Duluth went 60 yards in 5 plays, capped by a 12-yard scoring run by Odim, who rushed for 42 yards on the drive.
Schlafke threw 2 more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 40-3. Augustana's only touchdown of the game came with 8:36 left in the game when
Joe Clark plunged into the end zone from 3 yards out. The touchdown was set up by a 55-yard pass from
Luke Butler to Schulte on the first play of the drive.
Schulte had a career day catching the football. He had just 4 receptions but they went for a career-high 127 yards. It was Schulte's first 100-yard receiving game. Clark, meanwhile, rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown. Butler finished the contest completing 10 of 24 passes for 188 yards.
Schlafke threw for 276 yards on 19 of 31 passing and 4 touchdowns. He also rushed for 64 yards. Odim led all rushers with 105 yards. Pauley collected a team-high 6 receptions for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Defensively,
Matt Lien led the Vikings with 9 tackles, while
Brian Baumgartner added 8.
Augustana will be on the road next weekend when the Vikings travel to St. Paul, Minn., to take on Concordia University, St. Paul. Kickoff is set for noon.
