September 20 , 2003

ST. CLOUD, MINN. - The Northern State football team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday in a 27-13 non-conference decision with St. Cloud State.

The Huskies took an early 7-0 lead when quarterback Keith Heckendorf hooked up with Ed SdShazer for an 18-yard touchdown pass midway through the first.

NSU answered right back, however, as Toby Korrodi found Josh Martin for a 21-yard strike just 1:37 later to pull within one. NSU failed to convert on the extra point and stayed down one with 7:10 to go in the first.

The Huskies high-powered offense came back to life with 1:26 left in the opening quarter when running back Matt Birkel scampered 75 yards for the second SCSU score of the day.

In the second quarter, both offenses were stiffled and the only scoring came on a field goal by SCSU's Shawn Braunagel from 41 yards to give the Huskies a 17-6 advantage into the locker room.

St. Cloud struck quickly in the third quarter after recovering a Korrodi fumble deep in Wolf territory on NSU's opening drive. The Huskies would capitalize when Heckendorf scored from two yards out to put the home team up 24-6.

After another Braunagel field goal, NSU would only manage a Travis Heitmann 18-yard touchdown reception from Korrodi early in the fourth to fall short in the 27-13 decision.

NSU held a slight advantage statistically speaking with 23 first downs compared to SCSU's 16. NSU also held a slim 401-396 advantage in total offensive yards. Most of NSU's yards came through the air as the Wolves connected for 280 passing yards on the day.

Ronnie Cruz led the NSU rushing attack with 151 yards on 30 carries. Toby Korrodi threw 23-for-41 for 280 yards and two touchdowns in the game while Josh Martin led Wolves receivers with five receptions for 83 yards and a score.

NSU (2-1) will return to Aberdeen to host Minnesota-Duluth next Saturday for the Northern State Gypsy Day game. Kickoff for the tilt is at 2:30 p.m.

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