Article

Football Struggles to Score, Turns Ball Over Four Times in Loss at St. Cloud State

Season unravelling as offense musters only three points against hapless Huskies.

by Kaleb Roedel
Issue date: 10/24/06 Section: Mens Sports

That notorious phrase "there's no place to go but up," officially rings true for the Minnesota State football team.

Playing for the traditional Traveling Training Kit in St. Cloud, MSU fell to St. Cloud State Saturday 16-3 and now sits at the bottom of the North Central Conference at 0-5.

"We just aren't scoring enough points," said MSU head coach Jeff Jamrog. "It's very, very frustrating."

Fueling the frustration are the Mavericks' turnovers that continued to haunt them as MSU coughed up the football four times, two interceptions and two fumbles, through the course of the game.

"It is hard to win games in this league - or any league - when you turn the ball over," Jamrog said.

In a defensive-laced first quarter, the Mavericks registered the game's first points after Ben Spencer nailed a career-long 39-yard field goal with 2:03 remaining. The kick capped a 13-play, 27-yard drive that chewed six minutes and 16 seconds off the clock.

Despite holding a lead, Jamrog was displeased with the quarters' outcome.

"We had the ball inside the 50-yard line three times (in the first quarter) and couldn't come up with points," Jamrog said.

That became the story of the game as the Mavericks continually failed to produce points on their potential scoring drives.

Meanwhile, the Huskies began hacking away at the MSU lead with a pair of field goals (27 and 33 yards) in the second quarter to take a 6-3 advantage heading into halftime.

In the second half, the Mavericks were in dire need of a spark and finally found one.

Early in the third quarter, with SCSU on the move, the Mavericks got a sudden momentum shift after Allen King intercepted a pass to put the ball on their own 38-yard line.

But as quickly as the spark came, it was extinguished, as the Mavericks Josh Bryant was intercepted two plays into the drive by Matt Jensen who ran 15 yards, setting up the game's first touchdown.

On fourth-and-one at the MSU 33-yard line, SCSU's Kenneth Patrick took a hand-off, eluded two tacklers, bounced off another and galloped the distance. The Huskies' Jon Gutierrez added a 47-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for SCSU.

The lone bright spot for the Mavericks was their defense. MSU forced four turnovers, including two fumbles recovered by Blake Freese. Chad Breeden and Dan Ficcadenti each racked up a game-high 10 tackles.

Minnesota State looks to turn things around when they host South Dakota 1 p.m. Saturday at Blakeslee Stadium.

Kaleb Roedel is a Reporter staff writer