Huskies defeat the undefeated

The undefeated Minnesota State Mavericks came into St. Cloud with a 9-0 record in the NSIC. The Huskies weren’t planning on being the tenth.

The football team finished the regular season by shocking Husky Stadium erupting with cheers as the Huskies came off the field with a 26-21 victory Saturday afternoon in front of 4,000 fans.

In many rival games for college football, a trophy is usually fought after to show who has been the victor in the past. Between the Mavericks and the Huskies, they battled for the “Traveling Training Kit.”With 5:15 to go in the game and the Huskies trailing 21-20, the football team put together a 10 play, 95- yard scoring drive to upset the No. 4 nationally ranked Mavericks to take the “Traveling Training Kit” back to St. Cloud.

With a rough start to the beginning of the season, the Huskies have fought their way back from a 0-3 start, to a 7-3 NSIC, 7-4 overall record. St. Cloud State ended the Mavericks win streak at 15 games dating back to October 4, 2008.

The Huskies took the first score with a quick 6-0 lead on a 4-play 46-yard drive.

Senior quarterback Derek Stripling broke through up the middle of the Mavericks’ defensive line for a 9-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked.

The Mavericks returned the favor with a 10-play 65- yard drive to take the lead 7-6 in the first quarter.

After the resulting drive, Fred Williams returned a 42-yard kick return to put the Huskies in good field position on the Mavericks’ 38-yard line.

Eights plays after the return by Williams, Stripling scrambled around to find Tyler Allery in the back corner for an 8-yard touchdown pass to make the score 13-7.

Stripling took the ball across the plain of the endzone for his second rushing touchdown of the day to put their lead to 20-7.

Before the half ended, the Mavericks ran their way down the field to score on a 15-yard run by Julian Phipps to cut the lead to 20-14 for the Huskies.

The second half wielded little offensive power to what was shown in the first half.

With a quiet third quarter, Minnesota State scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a seven-yard run from Jake Aberg to take the 21-20 lead.

With only one minute shown on the clock, Stripling handed the ball to junior Dante Steward who put the Huskies up 26-21 in a 95-yard game-winning drive with three-yard rush to cap.

The Huskies finished the game with a total of 327 yards of total offense on the No. 1 regionally ranked Mavericks.

Stripling connected 11 of 22 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. With his balance of passing and rushing, Stripling also rushed for 13 times recording 97 yards and two touchdowns.

The Husky defense showed prowess shutting down the Mavericks causing two turnovers in the redzone with four turnovers throughout the game.

Senior Brian Kampa made a game-high 10 tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pas in the game.

The Huskies are waiting to see if they will be bowl eligible for the Mineral Water Bowl. The participants will be announced Sunday evening or Monday morning.