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SECOND
HALF MISTAKES COST NSU IN LOSS TO ST. CLOUD
September
14, 2002
ABERDEEN,
SD: Northern State saw a 15-12 halftime lead slip away in
Saturday night's home-opening 47-15 loss to St. Cloud State.
Northern
got off on the right foot holding St. Cloud to a 19-yard opening
drive and forcing the Huskies to punt. After a 39-yard Deacon
Burns return the Wolves took it 49 yards in eight plays when
Matt Wagner punched in a touchdown run from one yard out to
put NSU up 7-0 midway through the first.
The Huskies
responded in the second quarter, scoring on a Keith Heckendorf
18-yard pass to Ben Nelson to pull within one after a missed
extra point.
Heckendorf
hooked up with Nelson in the next SCSU drive, this time from
23 yards out to give St. Cloud its first lead of the game.
After a missed two-point conversion, the Huskies went up 12-7
with 10:38 to go in the half.
Both defenses
held until Northern's Jake Parten ran a bootleg around the
left end and scored from the six. With NSU's two-point conversion,
the Wolves took a 15-12 advantage into the locker room.
NSU's
offense got a chance to open up the lead early in the second
half but Jake Parten threw an interception that was taken
back to the Northern 11 by St. Cloud's Matt Nicholson.
The Huskies
would capitalize on the turnover when Heckendorf and Nelson
hooked up for the third time and put SCSU up 19-15.
From that
point on, it was all Huskies as they took advantage of two
errant snaps on NSU punts and blocked anothern Wolf punt that
was returned for six.
Northern
finished with 239 yards of total offense compared to St. Cloud's
346. Ronnie Cruz rushed for 56 yards on 20 carries to lead
NSU's rushing attack. Jake Parten went 16-for-27 with four
interceptions and 157 yards. James Mansfield led NSU in receiving
with four catches for 47 yards on the night.
St. Cloud's
Keith Heckendorf finished with a 16-for-27 night with one
interception and 246 yards. He threw for five touchdowns,
four of which were to Ben Nelson. Nelson posted ten catches
for 150 yards to lead all receivers.
Northern
State travels to Wayne State (Neb.) next Saturday to kick
off NSIC play. That game begins at 7 p.m.
-NSU-
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