Sept. 5, 1998
Two costly fumbles inside Northern State's 30-yard line resulted in 10 points for touring Augustana College as the Vikings spoiled NSU's home opener 28-14 Saturday night.
The Wolves played the North Central Conference team tough the entire game in front of 3,500 spirited fans under the lights at Swisher Field, but couldn't come back from their costly miscues. Both fumbles happened on botched pitchouts to the right from junior quarterback Tom Ramerth to sophomore running back Tyrone Morgan. The first time, NSU's defense held strong, limiting the Augie offense to its second field goal of the half.
The Wolves would bounce back and go up 7-6 going into the half on a 25-yard touchdown strike from Ramerth to senior wideout Steve Cowherd.
The second fumble occured early in the third quarter. This time, NSU's defense wouldn't get a chance to stop a touchdown, as junior defensive back Shannon Poppinga scooped up the fumble and ran six yards to paydirt. Augie connected on a two-point conversion to put NSU in a 7-14 deficit.
But the Wolves would prove resilient once again, marching decisively down the field on their very next drive to score. The Ramerth-to-Cowherd connection clicked again, as Cowherd made a beautiful move to shed the man on coverage and scampered 34 yards to the score. The extra point knotted the score at 14-14.
Augie's next big break came on a lateral to wide receiver Ryan Nodland, who in turn connected with Shane Burnison on a 45-yard strike. On the very next play, Nodland caught a 10-yard scoring strike from quarterback Eric DeGraff with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter. After Augie scored again on its first drive in the fourth quarter, the Wolves suddenly found themselves having to play catch-up for the rest of the game.
Cowherd ended the day with four receptions for 88 yards. Ramerth went 11-for-25 for 167 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Defensively, senior linebacker Owen Sandine racked up nine unassisted tackles and one assisted stop. Two of his tackles were for a loss of yardage, including one sack.