Article

Football Loses Game, Hunter

Sophomore linebacker's season over after tearing ACL at UND.

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

Playing in the University of North Dakota's homecoming game in Grand Forks, N.D, the Minnesota State football team was outdone in nearly every statistical category, including the score, as the Mavericks fell to the Fighting Sioux 24-3.

Unfortunately for the Mavs, the game wasn't all they lost.

Starting middle linebacker and the team's leading tackler, Tony Hunter, suffered a season-ending ACL tear early in the game; a serious blow to the MSU defense.

"It's going to be tough," said Mavericks head coach Jeff Jamrog. "He's a good player and a good kid. But he'll be back."

Even though a small silver lining lied in the turnover battle, where the Mavs only had one to UND's two, MSU still couldn't overcome the Fighting Sioux.

"We played pretty well on defense most of the game and offensively, we took a step forward," Jamrog said. "Unfortunately, we didn't punch it in the end zone."

Lighting up the scoreboard first was UND's Ryan Chappell who capped an eight-play 67-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown run with 8:49 left in the first quarter.

The Mavericks responded with a 74-yard drive down the field, resulting in a Ben Spencer 24-yard field goal, ending the first quarter at 7-3.

And after a UND fumble was recovered by the Mavericks' Trey Roemhildt early in the second quarter, the Mavericks appeared to have shifted the momentum.

Following a Ben King completion to Bryan Dalton for 23 yards, Tyrell Smith rushed for nine yards to UND's one-yard line. Ernest Walker's ensuing rush attempt resulted in a one-yard loss, setting up another Spencer field goal attempt, this time from 28-yards out.

Spencer's kick went sailing right and the Mavs' momentum sailed with it.

"We didn't make the plays when we had too," Jamrog said. "We forced two turnovers early in the first half but couldn't capitalize."

UND's Brandy Brady marched six yards for a touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the first half to extend the lead to 14-3. UND added a field goal as time expired to hold a 17-3 lead into the half.

In the second half, MSU tightened up its defense and held UND to only 135 yards on offense.

"We played a very good football game defensively in the second half," Jamrog said.

While MSU's defense fine-tuned its play, the offense continually struggled to manufacture points.

Meanwhile, UND added another touchdown with 1:29 remaining to cap off the game.

The lone area that MSU held an upper hand was the passing game where King flung for 270 yards. However, the running game failed to compliment the passing as MSU managed only five yards on 11 carries.

The Mavericks host the University of Minnesota Duluth at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Kaleb Roedel is a Reporter staff writer