Football Falls To Northern State, 29-28

Saturday, October 22

Aberdeen, SD

1:00 p.m.

St. Cloud State

4-4 , 4-4

Northern State University

4-4 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

St. Cloud State

Northern State

Sam Hartman

Photo by: Maddie MacFarlane

10/22/2016 5:17:00 PM | Football

Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – St. Cloud State's football team (4-4, 3-1 NSIC North) came up one point short in their loss to Northern State (4-4, 2-2 NSIC North) by a 29-28 score on Saturday, Oct. 22, on the road in Aberdeen, S.D.

Senior quarterback Nate Meyer was 16 for 39 for 229 yard and one touchdown in defeat. Meyer's favorite target was senior receiver Jameson Parsons, who had six catches for 63 yards, but was held without a touchdown for the first time in the last six games. Sophomore tight end Sam Hartman hauled in four passes for 70 yards. The Huskies receiving touchdown was caught by freshman Nick Greenlund. Greenlund has now caught at least a touchdown in three straight games. Junior running back Jaden Huff led the squad with his 83 rushing yards. He also scored a rushing touchdown and had 14-yard reception. True freshman running back Joe Blando ran nine times for 35 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Junior Gary Koehring led the defense with his 12 stops.

The Wolves were led by quarterback Christian McAlvain. McAlvain was 20 for 37 for 300 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran 10 times for 34 yards. Nicholas Truen had a team-high 106 yards rushing and a score. Zachery Barber tallied five catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. Conner Doherty picked up a touchdown reception on his three catches.

NSU held a 25-22 edge in first downs and also outgained SCSU by a 538 to 377 margin in the contest.

The Huskies took the early led in the game when Nick Greenlund hauled in a 12-yard pass from Meyer with 11:32 remaining in the opening quarter. The extra point was good to put the Huskies up by a touchdown early in the first.

The Wolves would quickly answer and tie the game on a Barber five-yard touchdown reception from McAlvain to complete a six play, 75-yard drive at the 9:16 mark of the first quarter.

After a made field goal from NSU briefly gave them the lead, SCSU scored their second touchdown of the opening quarter on a Blando one-yard scamper to finish off a 10 play, 65-yard drive at the 5:12 mark of the first quarter to make the score 14-10.

NSU wrestled the lead back on a Doherty 12-yard reception from McAlvain early in the second stanza to finish off a 14 play, 75-yard drive at the 10:16. The Nathan Shaw extra point was good to put the Wolves up 17-14.

Blando's second rushing touchdown of the contest gave SCSU the 21-14 lead at the 7:22 mark of the second quarter after the made extra point from senior Derek Witte to finish off the seven play, 75-yard drive.

Shaw's second made field goal of the half, this one from 25-yards out, pulled the Wolves to within a point, 21-20, just before the end of the half.

In the start of the third quarter the Huskies opened up their largest lead of the game as Huff ran it in from nine-yard out to finish off a 10 play, 77-yard drive at the 5:59 mark of the third quarter. The Witte extra point was true to give SCSU a 28-20 lead.

The Wolves would again chip away on the ensuing drive on Truen's four-yard rush. The two-point conversion failed as the Huskies hung to the 28-26 lead with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter.

Northern State scored what would eventually be the game-winning 26-yard field goal from Shaw with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter (1:53).

The Wolves defense stepped up and held SCSU scoreless on their last four drives to preserve the victory. The Huskies best drive in that period of time came when the offense drove to the NSU 29-yard line and had a first down. NSU defense then forced three incompletions and a rushing attempt that only netted two yards to get the ball back on downs.

St. Cloud State now returns home to take on No. 24 Bemidji State (6-1, 3-0 NSIC North) on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. at Husky Stadium.

Notes: Nick Greenlund has now broken the end zone at least once in each of his last three games…Joe Blando two rushing touchdowns were a career-high…For the first time this season, Jameson Parsons was both held out of the end zone and also didn't reach 100-yards receiving….The game marked the first time this season that SCSU failed to have a 100-yard receiver…Jaden Huff's rushing touchdown was his sixth of the season and the 19th over the last two years…Nate Meyer threw a touchdown pass in his 15th straight game and the 24th time in his 30 career contests…The Huskies have dropped their last three games to the Wolves and are 14-5 all-time against NSU.