UMD falls to Winona State in wild 33-30 finish, still gets bowl bid
It was simply too good a game, too great an effort, to have Saturday night’s 33-30 loss to Winona State in the Metrodome end the season for the UMD football team. And so it won’t.
Just hours after the Bulldogs left their hearts and emotions on the Metrodome carpet, and long before the disappointment could subside from seeing Chris Samp pull in a one-handed, sideline-straddling catch of a Bruce Carpenter pass with 14 seconds to go for the game-winning touchdown, the ‘Dogs learned they will howl again by playing Dec. 1 in the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo.
Going into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference final game, Winona State ranked fifth and UMD sixth in the NCAA Division II regional rankings. Ahead of them were North Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha, Pittsburg State of Kansas and Central Missouri State. The NSIC champ goes to the Mineral Water Bowl unless a Northern Sun team gets a rare chance to enter the regional playoff, and this year that could only happen if one of the top four happened to lose.
Central Missouri complied by losing to Pittsburg State, creating a crack. Then Nebraska-Omaha lost to Augustana on Saturday, and the crack opened wider. Sure enough, on Sunday word came that Winona State (10-1) has been invited to the NCAA playoffs, which means UMD (9-2) gets to represent the conference in the Mineral Water Bowl — against, ironically, Central Missouri State.
The decision for both teams to advance is strictly a matter of protocol, although had it been by a vote of the 5,887 at the Metrodome, it would have been unanimous that both teams deserved to keep on playing. For the second year in a row, the two teams engaged in a captivating battle of big-play haymakers, many of them designed to wipe out an opponent, but none of them capable of stopping this particular adversary. Each team led four times in the game, and, after the first touchdown, neither team ever led by more than four points.
Even after Carpenter had brought the Warriors down the field and connected with Samp on a square-out pattern at the right sideline, UMD didn’t quit. Ricky Fritz, who already had put himself further into the UMD record books with four touchdown passes in the game, had one last chance, and launched a long bomb up the right sideline. His target was Steve Battaglia, who had caught six passes for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but this time defensive back Steven Koehler came back to the turf with an inteception, and the Warriors ran out the final second of the game.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said UMD coach Bob Nielson, who had his Bulldogs well-prepared for their attempt to overthrow the Winona State regime but couldn’t prevent the Warriors from winning their fourth title in the last five years. “I told the players right after the game that we didn’t win the football game, but we played like champions. We played with great confidence today, but give Winona credit. They’re a real good football team, and they made the play at the end when they had to.”
Strong safety Kevin Westbrock, one of nine seniors on the roster, remained on the field, down on one knee and motionless for many minutes after the game. Westbrock, who had blocked two successive Winona State field goal tries in overtime a year ago in what wound up as a 34-31 Winona victory in two overtimes, had blocked an extra point this time around. The senior co-captain needed three tackles to set a UMD career record, and he did it by making four solo tackles and assisting on seven others.
The big-play marathon showed Winona State ahead statistically on most fronts, led by Carpenter’s 19-of-26 passing for 293 yards, and the explosive running threats of Kevin Curtin (108 yards/14 carries), Curtis Jepsen (54/14 runs), and Ryan Walch (29/8 runs).
UMD countered with Fritz, who was 14-for-23 for 223 yards and four touchdowns, ably complemented by Kevin Guillory who gained 53 yards on 12 runs and Jared Murray who gained 35 on 14 tries, taking up the slack for injured rookie running back Dave Rufledt, who has a sprained foot. Winona State outgained UMD 203-142 on the ground, and 293-223 in the air. But none of that mattered compared to the big plays.
Among the biggest was UMD sophomore Ryan Bailey, who intercepted two Carpenter passes, including a high-flying takeaway at the end of the first half that snatched a potential touchdown away from ace receiver Adam Lilla and allowed UMD to hold onto its 13-10 lead at halftime.
“Carpenter made some mistakes, but all I talked to him about was to throw the ball,” said Winona coach Tom Sawyer. “He’s a kid who recovered from two broken legs in the last couple years, so missing a few passes wasn’t going to bother him. I knew we could move the ball, but they were tough. Ricky Fritz was nasty out there, and the Battaglia brothers are always dangerous. What a great show we put on for the Northern Sun Conference today.”
The sizzle of the game was almost predicted when the UMD bus overheated and had to pull off at a weight station in Forest Lake for some repairs before getting the Bulldogs to the Metrodome. Not that it slowed the Bulldogs, who hit the Metrodome turf running, marching from the opening kickoff to a 7-0 lead when Fritz — with his grandpa, former Vikings coach Bud Grant, watching from the seats — fired a high and perfect 23-yard touchdown pass to Jamie Otterblad.
Winona State came right back, tying it 7-7 on its first possession, with Carpenter scoring on his second sneak from the 1. A 33-yard run by the elusive Curtin set up a Steve Opgenorth 28-yard field goal for a 10-7 Warrior lead at the quarter, but Fritz brought UMD back to the lead at 13-10 by hooking up with Steve Battaglia for a 15-yard touchdown pass on another high lob, perfectly arced to the left corner in the second quarter. That touchdown pass was Fritz’s 24th of the season, a school record.
Carpenter had the drive in place to retake the lead for Winona before the half, but his well-aimed pass to Lilla was intercepted by Bailey, but Carpenter opened the third quarter by fooling the Bulldog defense with a 52-yard bomb to Lilla to reach the UMD 4-yard line. Ryan Walch cracked the final yard for the touchdown, as the Warriors went up 16-13. Again, however, the Bulldogs countered, this time with Fritz moving the offense 65 yards in 11 plays, with three of his passes going to cocaptain Rob Tadych, including the touchdown toss from 13 yards out.
That sent UMD ahead 20-16, and the Bulldog defense came up huge on the ensuing drive, after a questionable pass-interference call had given the Warriors a first down at the UMD 32. Winona State got down to the 4, but the defense stiffened, hammering back the Warrior runners. When Brian Wenngatz smeared Carpenter on a rollout attempt, the Warriors settled for another field goal, this one from the 21, to close it to 20-19. Chad Gerlach boosted the lead to 23-19 with a 31-yard field goal for the Bulldogs to open the wild fourth quarter, but Winona State vaulted to a 26-23 lead when Carpenter hustled the Warriors 93 yards in 10 plays, finally faking a pass and sending Kevin Curtin around left end on a Statue-of-Liberty play executed perfectly
Fritz took matters into his own hands on the next drive, running a Brett Favre-like option for 2 yards and a first down, then sprinting up the middle on a scramble for a 22-yard gain to make it first down on Winona’s 35. Immediately, he tossed another perfect strike to Steve Battaglia in the left corner to push his season touchdown record to 26, and UMD led 30-26.
Time was running out, and UMD’s Mike Walters sacked Carpenter to start the next drive. But Carpenter picked himself and the Warriors up with a 78-yard march. He hit Samp for 17 yards, then found Lilla for 15, then threw to Jepsen to get to the UMD 14. He pitched to Samp again to reach the 8, and by then the Warriors were out of time outs and only 18 seconds remained.
That was when Carpenter sent Samp on his dramatic final route, and lobbed the game-winning pass. Samp wound up with 7 catches for 104 yards, and Lilla had five catches for 102, while Winona State prevented Tim Battaglia from catching a pass, although they couldn’t keep Steve Battaglia from six receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
It was wide open, with Winona getting 28 first downs to 22 for UMD, as both teams went all-out. And fittingly, both will get another chance to put their considerable skills on display.
Denfeld whips Rapids to gain 7AAAA final
There is no way to calculate all the different elements that have gone into Denfeld’s football team this season, but coach Dave Mooers clearly has extracted great team character out of his collection of characters.
The Hunters trampled Grand Rapids 44-14 Saturday afternoon at Public Schools Stadium to earn the right to take their 9-1 record into Friday night’s Section 7AAAA football championship game against unbeaten St. Michael-Albertville. In the process, they got two touchdowns from Steve Muellner and one each from Matt Lien, Denis Jacobson, Matt Mobley and Sam Dull, and big Matt Smith connected on a 30-yard field goal and five extra points.
The characters were in their prime after the game, but they started to surface before the game even ended. In the fourth quarter, with the victory secured, running back Denis Jacobson was struggling with an awkward problem near the Denfeld bench. He hadn’t played much because of an aggravated hamstring pull, and he was trying to stuff an icepack down the back of his tight-fitting football pants to get to the injured spot.
He couldn’t reach it, so teammate Joel Waters tried to lend a hand. Literally. The problem was, there was Waters reaching delicately down inside the back of Jacobson’s pants, while the Denfeld cheering section was sitting right behind them, in clear view. They seemed oblivious to their fellow students laughing uproariously at the scene.
Embarrassed? Hardly. When asked about it, Jacobson deadpanned: “We’re really close on this team.”
Quarterback John Borich, a linebacker last year who emerged from third string quarterback to direct the Hunters on both sides of the ball, excused Jacobson for dropping the second-half kickoff by heckling: “He can’t hang onto anything in practice, either.”
But Jacobson’s comparatively brief play because of the hamstring was compensated for when he picked up the fumbled ball — he said he just dribbled it once to get ready for basketball season — and sprinted untouched up the left sideline for a game-breaking touchdown. That was a major turning point, or actually the second half of a 1-2 turnabout sequence.
The Thunderhawks, who lost 29-26 to Denfeld with 1:02 remaining in one of the Hunters trademark comeback victories, had spotted Denfeld a 3-0 lead on Smith’s booming 30-yard field goal. Rapids struck back for a 6-3 lead when Richie Cueller scored from 13 yards out, his first of two touchdown runs.
It stayed that way until near halftime, when Borich lobbed a perfect pass to sophomore Matt Lien for a touchdown, but a motion penalty negated it. “It was disappointing,” said Lien, “because our offense was having some trouble, and we finally got one into the end zone, then they took it away from us. But at least we got third down over.”
Indeed. On third and 11 from the 19, Borich handed off to Sam Dull, who started to sweep to the right, then pulled up and lobbed a perfect halfback option pass. Again Lien went up for it, again he caught it — this time catching it over two defenders — and this time it counted.
“That was kinda big, I guess,” said Lien. “Sam and I work on that play all the time in practice, and when they called it, Sam and I smiled at each other in the huddle, because we knew we could make it work.”
It was big because it vaulted Denfeld back ahead, 10-6 at halftime. And Jacobson’s kickoff return TD to open the second half made it 17-6.
“That was the turning point,” said Grand Rapids coach Tim Botsford. “That option pass at the end of the first half was a big play, and when they got that kickoff return touchdown, the momentum of the game just jumped to their side.”
Steve Muellner scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Hunters later in the third quarter, and Borich connected with Matt Mobley for an 8-yard scoring pass and a 37-6 lead. Grand Rapids quarterback Sam Heiken hooked up with Ben Moore for a 7-yard Rapids touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Thunderhawks added a 2-point conversion on Heiken’s run, but that only made it 37-14. And the Hunters had an answer for it, anyway.
Botsford chose to try an onside kick, but Denfeld recovered. Immediately, Dull took off, 48 yards for another touchdown.
In dissecting the victory, Mooers used a herd of runners. Muellner had 18 carries for 91 yards, Dull 6 carries for 76 yards, Borich 4 carries for 60 yards, Tom Kalkbrenner 5 tries for 26 yards, and Jacobson, obviously the focal point for the Thunderhawk defense, had only 10 yards on 6 carries.
Dull, pronounced “Dahl,” moved to Duluth from LeSueur, Minn., before this year, and while he had a big game against Grand Rapids, he had pretty much been kept under wraps this season while Jacobson ran wild for touchdowns.
So effectively did Denfeld run the ball that Borich only passed 6 times, completing 4 of them for 65 yards and one touchdown. And Dull, of course, threw that halfback option pass for a TD, something that Borich knew well from last season.
“I was a halfback last year, and I threw passes on that same play twice, completing both of them for touchdowns,” said Borich.
That depth is another asset the Hunters have, along with great balance, and great coaching, which leads to their excellent execution. And then there’s that weird wit.
Someone noted that Dull had a big day, and asked Borich and Jacobson rhetorically: “Where did he come from?”
“LeSueur,” said Jacobson, never missing a beat.
John Gilbert is a writer for Murphy McGinnis Newspapers.
UMD women get good warmup with lopsided Manitoba sweep
So, what exactly can a team like UMD’s No. 1 ranked women’s hockey team get out of playing a nonconference — noncounting — international game against a team like the University of Manitoba? Simple. They got ready for being shorthanded by a few elite players next weekend, when they must go to Wisconsin and play a Badger team that is sure to challenge them with more intensity than ever.
Beyond the obvious weekend sweep of games, as the Bulldogs followed up Saturday’s 14-1 romp with a more reasonable 5-0 victory Sunday afternoon at the DECC, Maghan Grahn, a freshman from Roseau who had played four saves-worth in one game, got a shutout in her first collegiate start with 12 saves.
Grahn got her chance for two reasons. One, star Tuula Puputti departed early Sunday morning to go home to Finland, where she will tend goal for Team Finland in the “Three Nations Cup” international tournament. Two, Puputti will be missing next weekend also, just as she will for the month of February and the Winter Olympic Games, so Grahn may be the required starter.
Also, Erika Holst and Maria Rooth scored a goal each in Saturday’s game, and they will depart Wednesday for Finland, where they will play for Team Sweden in the same tournament — which is actually the Four Nations Cup, except that Team USA withdrew, citing fears of making such a trip following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York and Washington. That leaves three teams, Canada, Finland and Sweden, playing in the most prestigious international tournament leading up to the Winter Olympics.
But the most important thing was that some of the UMD skaters who have been content to watch the elite Swedish and Finnish players score the majority of goals will have to come through in their absence, and they picked the weekend exhibition games at the DECC as a coming-out party.
Shannon Mikel scored the first UMD goal Sunday, on a diving shot off Tricia Guest’s goal-mouth pass with 43 seconds left in the first period. Holst then scored with 24 seconds to go for a 2-0 lead, after goaltender Allison Nantais had stopped 19 UMD shots. Jessi Flink also scored, at 0:09 of the second period.
That was the quickest goal at the start of any period of any game for any UMD women’s team, compared to the school record of 15 seconds, shared by Michelle McAteer and Jenny Schmidgall. And it also could be called the fastest three goals ever scored by a UMD women’s team, because the first three goals came in the final 43 seconds of the first period and the first 9 seconds of the second, which totals 52 seconds, and the school record is 1:13, against Bemidji State.
While those are better than the UMD record, they also are unofficial, because Manitoba is not a U.S. NCAA team, so all statistics are for personal reward only.
The goal by Flink was a rude welcome for Cherylann Koop, who relieved Nanatais in goal and played the second and third periods. After that goal, however, Koop was strong, stopping 16 second period shots and 14 more in the third, when UMD broke through only for goals by Rooth and Laurie Alexander, at 13:05 and 16:12 of the third period. For the game, UMD outshot Manitoba 54-12.
In Saturday’s game, Guest scored three goals, while McAteer, Alexander, Sikio and Holst got two each, and Kristina Petrovskaia, Leah Kasper and Flink added one apiece.
“We wanted everyone to play, and maybe get a little confidence booster for next week, when we’ll be gone,” said Rooth. “Some of those players who hadn’t played much not only played well, but they scored this weekend. That was awesome.”
The Bulldogs skated, passed and shot well enough, but they didn’t charge the net with their usual hunger for finishing in Sunday’s game, undoubtedly the effect of Saturday’s game, when they led 7-1 after only one period. But Nantais was outstanding in the Manitoba nets in the first period, which helped stall the UMD attack, and Koop did the same the rest of the way.
Denfeld overruns Grand Rapids 44-14 in 7AAAA grid semifinal
DULUTH, MINN. — Duluth Denfeld waited until the final minute to edge Grand Rapids 29-26 during the regular season, but the Hunters were more impatient than that Saturday afternoon, when they rolled to a 44-14 victory over the Thunderhawks in a Section 7AAAA semifinal at Public Schools Stadium.
The Hunters acknowledged that the close first game made them well aware of Grand Rapids’ capabilities, and the Thunderhawks backed it up with a strong first half, even leading 6-3 early in the second quarter. But the Hunters (9-1) turned the game around with two huge plays to end the first half and start the second.
Denfeld, which will play unbeaten St. Michael-Albertville Friday at PSS for the 7AAAA crown, got touchdowns from five different players to overrun Rapids with offensive balance, but the Hunters could only muster a first-quarter field goal by Matt Smith for a 3-0 lead. Grand Rapids countered with a drive culminated with a Richie Cueller touchdown run from 13 yards out for a 6-3 lead.
It stayed that way until Denfeld drove to the Thunderhawk 14 with time running out in the second quarter. On third and 6, quarterback John Borich lobbed a perfect pass into the right edge of the end zone, and sophomore Matt Lien made a sparkling catch for the apparent touchdown. But it was nullified by a penalty.
“It was disappointing,” said Lien, “because our offense was having some trouble, and we finally got one into the end zone, then they took it away from us. But at least we got third down over.”
Indeed. On third and 11 from the 19, Borich handed off to Sam Dull, who started to sweep to the right, then pulled up and lobbed a perfect halfback option pass. Again Lien went up for it, again he caught it — this time catching it over two defenders — and this time it counted.
“That was kinda big, I guess,” said Lien. “Sam and I work on that play all the time in practice, and when they called it, Sam and I smiled at each other in the huddle, because we knew we could make it work.”
It was big because it vaulted Denfeld back ahead, 10-6 at halftime. And it got bigger because the Thunderhawks spent halftime trying to figure out how to get back ahead, and on the second half kickoff, the project became more difficult.
Denis Jacobson, Denfeld’s star running back who was hampered all game with a hamstring injury from the previous Denfeld game against Monticello, waited for the kickoff, then dropped it. He joked about dribbling once to get ready for basketball, but whatever, he picked it up and took off. The Rapids coverage may have reacted to the apparent fumble, but Jacobson reacted by sprinting to his left, turning the corner and going untouched for a 90-yard touchdown.
“That was the turning point,” said Grand Rapids coach Tim Botsford. “That option pass at the end of the first half was a big play, and when they got that kickoff return touchdown, the momentum of the game just jumped to their side.”
That touchdown, and the second of five Smith extra points, boosted Denfeld to a 17-6 lead. And the Hunters seemed to be running downhill the rest of the way.
The Hunters defense stopped Grand Rapids quarterback Sam Heiken and running back Cueller from staying close enough to threaten a comeback.
Steve Muellner scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Hunters later in the third quarter, and Borich connected with Matt Mobley for an 8-yard scoring pass and a 37-6 lead.
Heiken hooked up with Ben Moore for a 7-yard Rapids touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Thunderhawks added a 2-point conversion on Heiken’s run, but that only made it 37-14. And the Hunters had an answer for it, anyway.
Botsford chose to try an onside kick, but Denfeld recovered. Immediately, Dull took off, 48 yards for another touchdown.
Grand Rapids ends 4-6, after a spirited second half to the season. “We heard Denfeld was behind Monticello 20-0 in their last game,” said Botsford. “We were kinda hoping Monticello might win that one, because they’d have been at our place today, instead of us down here.”
Bulldogs score 5 in second, hang on to beat RPI 6-5 for sweep
There are spontaneous celebrations at the end of hockey games, but they can have different meanings. On Friday, when the Bulldogs poured off the bench, it was to celebrate a 4-3 victory over Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute decided by Mark Carlson’s goal in sudden-death overtime.
On Saturday night, the Bulldogs came off the bench when the third period ended, but it seemed more in relief that they surrounded goaltender Rob Anderson. UMD had scored five goals in a wild and unpredictable second period, and the Bulldogs needed every one of them to escape from the DECC with a 6-5 victory and a sweep of the nonconference series with RPI.
With 3,542 fans at the DECC, hoping to see a repeat of Friday’s 4-3 overtime victory, the Bulldogs spotted RPI a 2-goal lead. Nolan Graham scored on a power play late in the first period, scoring from deep in the right circle with 2:16 remaining in the session.
Then UMD opened the second period with a too-many-men on the ice penalty, and Matt Murley scored his first of two goals for the Engineers at 5:44 when he picked the rebound out of a cluster of bodies in front, stepped to his right and lifted a shot into the empty net.
The Bulldogs continued their quick-strike style, however, and countered with two close-order bursts to apparently take command of the game.
At 7:20 of the second period, Tyler Brosz scored from in front of RPI netminder Kevin Kurk. Eighteen seconds later, Judd Medak came right back in to score, and the Bulldogs had evened the game 2-2.
Midway through the period, UMD was on a 4-on-3 power play when Jon Francisco scored with Medak’s pass across the slot at 11:08. At 12:34, Nick Anderson scored for UMD, giving them two more goals in a 1:26 span, and a 4-2 lead.
But the Bulldogs don’t seem to want to do anything the easy way. Nolan Graham scored for RPI at 13:55, closing it to 4-3 with a power-play tally, and Steve Munn scored the prettiest goal of the night when Mark Cavosie carried up the right side, 2-on-2, and somehow lured both defenders, making a sharp move to his right, then backhanding a pass across the goal-mouth, where Anderson had no chance on Munn’s one-timer.
Francisco broke the 4-4 tie with 1:01 left in the middle period, and the Bulldogs padded the 5-4 lead when freshman Evan Schwabe scored off a neat pass from Mark Carlson at 1:08 of the third.
A 6-4 lead seemed large, but at 8:35 of the final period, Murley scored with a screened shot from the right point, and it was 6-5, and the remaining 11:25 were fiercely fought as the Engineers battled for the equalizer. The threat didn’t go away with a 6-skater attack, but when Anderson made two saves in the last 5 seconds, the Bulldogs streamed off the bench to engulf him. It wasn’t easy, but it was a victory.
The Bulldogs played without Tom Nelson, who rested a sore knee, and lost freshman Luke Stauffacher with a broken wrist during the game. They return to WCHA action at Alaska-Anchorage next weekend.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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