DULUTH — A three-touchdown afternoon for running back Alex Riley helped the Minnesota Duluth football team shake off its bad mojo on Saturday with a hard-fought 35-21 victory over Minot State at Malosky Stadium.
The sorely needed win concludes what’s been an October to forget in the wake of three consecutive one-score losses at the hands of Augustana, Northern State and Sioux Falls.
“I think when you have the season that we’ve had at this point you appreciate every win, and Minot State is a good football team,” said head coach Curt Wiese. (They) came in at 4-4 and they played a hard football game, but credit goes to our guys. I thought our guys played hard, they played with a lot of emotion today. It was clearly still important to them to continue to play our style of football.”
For Riley, who established new career highs in rushing yards (103) and touchdowns in the win over the Beavers, the win provided an emotional lift to the team.
“Definitely a momentum and motivational boost,” said the Waconia native. “I feel like we’ve kind of hung our heads a little bit on the losses, but this is just a perfect win to get us feeling good about our team and just keep moving forward.”
After missing last week’s game, quarterback Kyle Walljasper completed 15 of 22 pass attempts for 156 yards and two touchdowns, including a 12-yard strike to Cole Ewald in the first half and another to Jimmy Durocher in the fourth quarter, to help seal the win.
Ewald, Chuck Gilbert III and Ryder Patterson all took on more prominent roles in UMD’s offense in the absence of leading receiver DaShaun Ames, who entered the game sitting in third place across the NSIC in receiving yards with 583 on 28 catches, and eight touchdowns.
Ames sustained an injury during practice leading up to Saturday’s game, though Wiese anticipates he’ll be back in the lineup for their next matchup against Winona State.
With a shorthanded receiving group, the Bulldogs’ offense took a run-heavy approach in the first half with 13 of their first 16 plays coming on the ground. Riley and Derrick Johnson shouldered the load, with Riley finding the most success. He gained 74 yards on six carries, including touchdown runs of 4 and 38 yards.
The team combined to churn out 181 yards rushing by halftime and 257 yards overall.
“I can’t give enough credit to my line, you know, they’re doing a great job,” Riley said of the team’s effort in the trenches. “It’s my job to read off them and make a good read and I was feeling good all game. I was trusting myself (and) trusting my preparation…”
After being held in check by the Bulldogs’ defense over the first two quarters, the Beavers offense proved opportunistic midway through the second quarter with a rare passing play to a wide-open Jonathan Noriega down the middle of the field for their only touchdown of the half.
The 77-yard touchdown connection was only the second first-half completion for quarterback Carson Chrisman, as the Beavers mainly stuck to the ground game with 22-of-28 plays of the rushing variety.
The second half got off to a less-than-ideal start for Walljasper after an off-target pass intended for Durocher was picked off by Brayan Augustin and returned all the way to UMD’s 3-yard line. The Beavers quickly cashed in with a rushing touchdown by Chrisman to make it a one-possession game, 21-14 less than two minutes into the third quarter.
Walljapser shrugged off the mistake on the next possession by leading the offense 75 yards on eight plays, including an 18-yard QB sneak and a 16-yard strike to Gilbert III along the sidelines to set up a 1-yard score by Riley, his third of the game.
Chisman, who finished the game with three total touchdowns, added his second rushing score late in the third quarter to cut the deficit back to only seven in a 28-21 game. The Beavers appeared ready to get the ball back with a chance to tie the game after forcing a punting situation on the ensuing UMD possession. Instead, the Bulldogs ran a fake, with Logan Kubus breaking free for 29 yards along the home team’s sidelines to extend the drive, and set up the 30-yard touchdown pass from Walljasper to Durocher.
UMD (4-4, 3-4 NSIC) will begin two weeks on the road at Winona State next Saturday, Nov. 2.
Jake Przytarski is a sports reporter for the Duluth News Tribune covering a mix of local prep and collegiate teams.
