Mineral Water Bowl Bound

November 6th, 2004	1	2	3	4	Final	Records
Northern State	13	7	15	17	44	6-4, 5-2 NSIC
SW Minnesota State	0	0	0	9	9	5-6, 3-4 NSIC

Wolves Earn Bowl Bid with 44-9 Win Over SMSU

Minneapolis, Minn. - Toby Korrodi threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns as Northern State kept its Mineral Water Bowl hopes alive with a 44-9 victory over Southwest Minnesota State Saturday in the Metrodome Classic. Winona State defeated Concordia St. Paul 49-41, giving NSU the tie-breaker over Bemidji State to get the bid to the 2004 Mineral Water Bowl. The Wolves wil take on Washburn University (7-4) on December 4th at 1:00 p.m. in Exlecior Springs, Missouri

The Wolves (6-4, 5-2) had to win and Concordia-St. Paul has to lose to No. 6 Winona State for Northern State to advance to the Dec. 4 game in Excelsior Springs, Mo.

"It was win or go home. We had no option," said Korrodi, who finished 17-of-30 with no interceptions. He completed passes to eight different receivers.

"Whatever happens, happens," said Wolves coach Ken Heupel. "I’m proud of our guys. There are a lot of things that happened to our football team early in the season and we worked through things as a football team and ended the season on a positive note. Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to continue practice and play in the Mineral Water Bowl."

The win was the 13th straight for Northern State over Southwest Minnesota State (5-6, 3-4), while the loss prevented Mustang coach Eric Eidsness from having the best first-year record by any coach in school history. Southwest Minnesota State has not had a winning season since 1999.

In addition to Korrodi’s three touchdown scores, Rudy Jones scored on a 5-yard run and Anthony Hirsch added a 31-yard interception return to secure the victory.

Heupel said that Korrodi may get much of the hype, but that the sophomore signal caller knows it is a team game.

"One thing about Korrodi is that he doesn’t care how it’s done as long as we win," said Heupel. "He doesn’t care if it’s on the ground, in the air or by the defense."

Northern State scored first midway through the opening quarter as Korrodi found Tavis Ve’e alone in the flat for a 10-yard score.

Southwest Minnesota State was fortunate the score was not much worse after 15 minutes. A blocked punt and a fumbled kickoff return gave Northern State excellent field position deep in the Mustang end, but the Wolves could do no better than a Clinton Arial field goal each time. He also added a 25-yarder in the final quarter.

Heupel was a little concerned about the potential 14 points that were left off the scoreboard. "The name of the game is to get some type of points. You surely want a touchdown, but the bottom line is that you have to come out with some type of points."

Korrodi hit Kevin Covington from 4 yards out early in the second quarter for a 20-0 halftime lead.

About the only thing that went right for Southwest Minnesota State in the opening half was the recovering of an onside kick to start the game. However, the subsequent drive ended when a 49-yard field goal attempt by Eric Oldenkamp fell short.

Southwest also put together a nine-minute drive to start the second half, but came away empty-handed when Oldenkamp’s 32-yard field goal was wide left.

Six plays later it was 27-0 Northern State after a defender slipped covering Travis Heitmann, and the senior was wide open for a 45-yard score.

After the Mustang defense recorded a safety when Jones was tackled by Kyle Morrow in the end zone early in the final quarter, the offense marched down the field and scored when Chase Hillesheim crossed the goal line on a 3-yard run.

However, Jones and Hirsch scored their points 50 seconds apart in the final three minutes to conclude the scoring.

 

 

 

 

 

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