The tandem rushing attack of Logan Lauters and Austin Sikorski flashed its full form last Saturday night, and quarterback Drew Bauer joined them in a three-pronged 100-yard rushing attack that led UMD to its impressive 38-7 football victory over Southwest Minnesota State.

To say the Bulldogs weathered Southwest’s attack would be fitting. When the changeable weather at Malosky Stadium took an ugly turn, the Bulldogs cavorted in it. They say everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. The Bulldogs, however, do things IN it when the weather turns foul.

“It doesn’t matter if it rains, snows, or the wind is blowing,” said UMD coach Curt Wiese. “When our guys see foul weather, they get excited. We practice in it all week, every week, and our guys know that players on the other team don’t like it. So we thrive on it, and you can see our guys get energized when the weather turns bad.”

However on this night, the game found an early turning point long before the grey skies started to leak. Like, just after the opening kickoff. UMD kicked off to Southwest, and the aroused Bulldogs defense snuffed Kern’s attempt to pass out of danger. On fourth down, Mustangs punter Mike Wenk dropped back. The snap came, Wenk caught the ball and stepped forward, but as he swung his leg, UMD’s Mark Nahorniak finished his well-timed run in from the left side with a dive. Nahorniak not only blocked the punt, he practically caught it on its way up.

On second down, Lauters raced around left end and UMD led 7-0 after only 1:38 had elapsed.

Coach Wiese had spent much of the week warning his players and preparing to try to contain Southwest quarterback Charlie Kern. He wasn’t kidding. Kern rolled right and fired a 38-yard bomb up the right sideline that Nathaniel Huot caught, and when Darion Fletcher tackled him from behind, Huot fell across the goal line and it was 7-7.
Bauer regained the lead with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Nate Ricci for a 15-7 margin after a quarter, and Andrew Brees made it 18-7 at the half with a 25-yard field goal. By then, the game was moving into its moist phase.

The most indelible memory of the game will be that a night that began windy but mellow at Malosky Stadium took a sudden wet turn midway through the second quarter, and the windblown rainstorm only worsened as the game progressed. The main factor in the rainstorm was that the Mustangs depended solely on slick Kern’s passing. The Bulldogs like to pass, but they like to run more, and as the weather got wetter, it was easier to run than to pass.

Lauters and Sikorski piled up the rushing yardage, with Bauer adding his significant contribution, while Kern’s passing was dampened, and the Mustangs running attack was a washout, and the Bulldogs outscored the Mustangs 20-0 in the second half to become 3-0.

Lauters, who has led UMD’s running game all season, ran for 154 yards, while Sikorski gained 103 -- his best showing of the season after taking time to recover from a summertime stabbing incident. Against Southwest, Sikorski rose to the proper level and regained the form that caused rival coaches to pick him as the preseason player of the year in the Northern Sun Conference.

“It was good to see Austin have a big game,” said Wiese. “And it was specially good for him because there were about 130 kids from his Stevens Point (Wis.) high school up here to watch him.”
Bauer, meanwhile, gained 111 yards to split those two and give UMD a rare trio of 100-yard men. Southwest State, which outgained the Bulldogs 230-42 in passing yards, could only manage a team total of 23 yards rushing compared to UMD’s 462.

John Gilbert has been writing sports for over 30 years. Formerly with the Star Tribune and WCCO. He currently hosts a daily radio show on KDAL AM.

Different VB Team, but Same Results for UMD

For four years of ever-increasing dosages, UMD’s volleyball team would find a way to work the ball around to outside hitter Kate Lange, who would generally reward the set-ups with explosive killshot hits, and the Bulldogs would win. Again.
Winning never gets tiresome, of course, but this year, with Lange gone off to Europe to play after finishing her eligibility at UMD, the Bulldogs do an amazing job of digging, which is getting to opposing kill attempts that beat the reliable front-line blockers, then moving the ball to Ashley Hinsch for precisely astute passes, positioned for kills.
The difference is that those set assists might go to half a dozen front-line hitters, all of whom tend to slam the ball over the net and through opposing players. None hits the ball with the force of Kate Lange, but all hit the ball capably and efficiently.
If that’s a difference, then the similarity is that the Bulldogs generally leave the court victorious.
Last weekend, the Bulldogs enjoyed the rarity of playing at home, in Romano Gym. It was their 10th and 11th matches of the season, and as they reached the halfway point of their schedule, those were the only two matches UMD has played at home.
The Bulldogs defeated a strong Southwest Minnesota State team on Friday, September 19, then they defeated Sioux Falls State on Saturday, the 20th. Again there were similarities: UMD didn’t lose a game, sweeping Southwest 3-0 in three tough and demanding games, 25-22, 25-23, and 25-21.
“It was 3-0, but all three games were really tough,” said UMD coach Jim Boos. “I was not surprised at how competitive Southwest was. Last week they beat Tampa, which was their only loss. Tampa is rated No. 1, and is the team that gave us our only loss, in that tournament in Denver.
“We’re really balanced this year. We don’t have Kate Lange to depend on, but we have a lot of talented players who can all come up and be our best player on different nights. Monica Turner has been our best player, and was national player of the week, and Sydney Mauch and Ashley Hinsch have been very consistent.
“But tonight, Mariah Scharf had a big night, with 12 kills and 35 attacks. And Maddy Siroin had 10 kills.”
Ranked No. 4 in the country going in, UMD faced the No. 8 team in Southwest. The Bulldogs won Game 1 25-22, and it was back and forth, but the second game was tighter, as Southwest broke from an 8-8 tie to take leads of 13-9, 16-10, 18-14, and 20-15. But UMD battled back, closing to 20-17, then gaining a 20-all tie behind some great blocking.
It was 22-22, and 23-23, but then Scharf and Turner double-blocked a kill attempt and the Bulldogs wrested the lead at 24-23, and won the game 25-23.
Next night, UMD swept again, 25-17, 25-13, 25-20, and Scharf led the way again, but balance carried the match. UMD became 10-1 overall, and 3-0 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Then it was off to hit the road again, with a Tuesday trip to Crookston,  where UMD prevailed in its third straight sweep, winning 25-23, 25-16 and 25-10. Scharf had 18 kills and Turner 15. The Bulldogs stood 14-14 with the Golden Eagles, then scored 10 of the next 11 points. In the third game, UMD jumped off to a 10-2 lead and cruised to the victory.
This weekend, UMD is at Augustana and Wayne State, followed by an October 3-4 weekend at Winona State and Upper Iowa. When the Bulldogs return to Romano Gym, to face they will have played 14 of their 16 games on the road.
Their fans may be saying, “Who are these players?” because of the scarcity of their home games, but they’ll figure it out in a hurry, because those next home dates are against Minnesota State-Mankato on October 10, and defending NCAA Division II champion Concordia of St. Paul on October 11.

Major College Tests?

If you’re like I am, the sputtering offenses of both the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Minnesota Vikings -- to say nothing of the Green Bay Packers -- has sent you scouring the cable or satellite television for special games on Saturday and Sunday night. Last weekend, it seemed like an almost complete lack of exciting match-ups, but persistence paid off.
I enjoy watching the Oregon Ducks, and the Pac-12 in general, because I think it is the most exciting major college conference in the nation. True, ESPN continues to shamelessly promote the Southeast Conference, but the Pac-12 on the West Coast plays creative, exciting offenses that I don’t think the SEC could handle.
Oregon had to play at Washington State, in Pullman, Washington, in a late game, and it was played at a frantic pace that exhausted you even on TV. Oregon has the matchless Marcus Mariota at quarterback, but Washington State has a fellow named Connor Halliday. The teams went back and forth, and wound up 31-31 before Mariota took the Ducks in for a final touchdown and a 38-31victory.
Halliday was 43 of 63 for 436 points and four touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 147.3. Not bad. Mariota, however, was 21-25 for 329 yards and five touchdowns, and an incredible quarterback rating of 260.5. For the game, Oregon outgained Washington State in total yards -- 501-499!
Meanwhile, in Tucson, Arizona, Arizona was getting run around its own field by California in another Pac-12 classic. Arizona seemed hopelessly out of it, butd they scored 36 points in the fourth quarter and escaped with a 49-45 victory. Arizona scored 19 points in the final 3:30 of the game to pull it out.
The Sunday masterpiece -- while the Vikings and the Packers were each scoring a single touchdown in dispiriting losses -- was the Super Bowl rematch between Seattle and Denver. It was a fantastic game, and, as I anticipated, Seattle had a slight edge as Russell Wilson seemed to be outdueling the superb Peyton Manning.
But when it got to the end, coach Pete Carroll took his Seahawks out of the bold, aggressive style that made them champions. Seattle led by five, and Wilson, with Percy Harvin and Marshawn Lynch sharing the stardom, marched down the field and seemed destined to put the game away with a touchdown. Incredibly, Carroll called for Lynch to run the last two runs just to position the ball for a field goal.
I text-messaged my son, who lives in Washington, and said I thought it was out of character and a bad decision to go for three and take an eight-point lead. That would leave nearly a minute, and Peyton Manning could zip down the field and tie it with a two-point conversion. And that’s exactly what he did, completing 7-7 on the way down for the touchdown, and rifling a pass for the two-pointer and a deadlock.
At that point, the ridiculousness of NFL overtimes came shining through. Seattle won the coin flip, got the ball, and Russell Wilson took the Seahawks down the field resolutely, running 10 yards himself twice for first downs, and then he sent Lynch in for the winning touchdown. So Peyton Manning, who had been so brilliant in gaining the tie, had to watch from the sidelines while Seattle won the game -- with Denver never getting to touch the ball.
Why are the colleges so far ahead of the NFL, giving both teams a chance to score however they might from the 40 yard line?