November 15, 2003

Marshall, Minn. - After falling behind 7-0 early in the first, the Northern State Wolves answered with two first quarter touchdowns and blew the game open in the second half, rounding out their 2003 campaign with a decisive 41-17 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday in Marshall, Minn.

The Mustangs found the scoreboard first with a 73 yard opening drive putting them ahead 7-0 with just under ten minutes to play in the opening period. The Wolves countered with a 73-yard drive of their own that took just three plays and :28 seconds to knot the score at 7-7 with a Travis Heitmann TD reception.

NSU's Josh Martin then put the Wolves on top with a 45 yard reception from Toby Korrodi with 2:31 left in the first.

Neither team scored in the second, but NSU's Ronnie Cruz bursted into the open field twice to open the third quarter with touchdowns on consecutive drives.

Southwest tried to bounce back in the game with a touchdown and a field goal, but 28-17 was as close as they would get as the Wolves held SMSU off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game and tacked on two Matt Pinto touchdown receptions to close the scoring at 41-14.

NOTES:

-NSU's Toby Korrodi broke the NSU single season pass attempts mark with 428th of the year.

-Korrodi hit 22-of-37 passing for 291 yards and four touchdowns.

-Ronnie Cruz led the NSU rushing attack with 162 yards on just 16 carries (10.1 avg).

-Travis Heitmann was the top NSU receiver with six catches for 67 yards and a score.

-Jason Carson and Cody Steen headed up the Wolves defense with 13 and 11 tackles, respectively. Carson added one sack and two TFL with Steen added one TFL

-Northern State finishes its season at 7-4 (5-3 NSIC) and in a tie for fourth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

STATISTICS