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St. Cloud State University
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UNC spoils SCSU homecoming
By Matt Janda
Published:
Monday, October 14, 2002
Media Credit: Adam Masloski
SCSU’s Ben Nelson goes up for a catch Saturday against the University of Northern Colorado Bears. Despite a late comeback, the Huskies lost their homecoming game in overtime.
The Huskies rallied for a dramatic comeback late in the fourth quarter of Saturday's homecoming game against the University of Northern Colorado, only to have their fire put out by an interception in overtime.
Northern Colorado kicker Mike Swim, who had missed two of three earlier attempts of 31 and 41 yards, hit a 35-yard field goal to give the Bears a 27-24 victory, spoiling SCSU's homecoming celebration.
"They kind of crept back into the game there…that was a great last drive on their part," Swim said. "But our team played solid the whole time, Nick (Sims, UNC cornerback) made a great play and made that (possible), and I knew I was going to redeem myself.
Trailing 24-16 with 1:49 remaining, Huskies quarterback Keith Heckendorf drove the Huskies 64 yards in 85 seconds for the tying score and two-point conversion. Heckendorf's magic touch lasted until the seventh play of overtime, where he was intercepted by Sims on an end zone fade to Ben Nelson.
"A couple of times earlier in the game, they caught me turning my back down there toward the goal line," Sims said. "I just tried to stay square and keep my eyes on the quarterback. He threw it, I saw the ball and went for it."
The loss leaves the Huskies at 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the NCC. The Bears move to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
The scouting report on the Bears' defense is that they can be scored on early and late in the game, but don't count on it in the middle quarters. The Huskies capitalized on this, earning a field goal on their first drive. On the next drive, UNC punter Chad Harter had a snap fly over his head. The Huskies smothered him and scored on the next play, a 13-yard touchdown pass from Heckendorf to wide receiver Ben Nelson, to take a 10-0 lead.
The Bears shot back, getting a field goal on their next possession and didn't score again until quarterback Mark Passard hit a streaking George Carroll down the middle of the field for a 44-yard score, tying the game at 10-10. Just before the half, the Huskies drove for a long field goal, a 41-yard kick by true freshman Shaun Braunagle.
The Huskies took a 16-10 lead early in the third when safety Nate Loughran caused a fumble on a punt return and defensive tackle Nick Peterson recovered, giving the Huskies position for the score. Then the tide of the game changed.
Bears' wide receiver Brad Pyatt took the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, giving UNC a 17-16 lead that would turn into a 24-16 lead when Bears running back Adam Matthews scored on his 24th carry of the game. Matthews ran 29 times for 114 yards, getting most of them in the second half.
Heckendorf wasn't at his sharpest in the first half, but he made his two biggest mistakes in the second.
"We've scored a bunch of touchdowns this year on the same play, so I felt like I had to give him a chance to make the play for me," Heckendorf said. "He did a great job and the line did a great job setting it up. Scoring the way we did at the end of regulation, the momentum was definitely on our side. We moved the ball down and got to first and goal, and I just made a poor decision I guess."
The Huskies got another solid effort from their defense, who held the Bears potent offense to under 300 yards. They benefited from Swim's two missed field goal attempts, but made a key stop late in the fourth quarter and held the Bears to seven yards in overtime.
"They didn't surprise us with anything. We knew what they were going to run," said Peterson, who had a sack and a fumble recovery. "A couple of times on big plays we didn't tackle as well as we should have and didn't execute as best we can. But they're a good football team. We hung with them."
SCSU head coach Randy Hedberg said he had confidence his team would be victorious, and that they gave themselves a great chance to finally beat the Bears.
"I thought we had the momentum. I really truly believe if we punch that and go up seven, since our defense had played well all game, so I really thought we could stop them on downs," he said. "(Sims) made a good play on it. They have excellent athletes. I think it was just a very athletic play; he was able to turn and catch the ball, and kept his feet in bounds."
Despite the two interceptions, Heckendorf had a good day, completing 29 of 57 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, both to Nelson, who had 10 catches for 114 yards. Redshirt freshman Matt Birkel continued his rapid development, leading the Huskies with 19 carries for 94 yards.
The Huskies face another tough task next week as they head to Grand Forks to take on the Division II national champion University of North Dakota. These Huskies haven’t yet had to bounce back from a loss, so many eyes around the conference will be on this game.
“I think it’s going to tell a lot about our football team, how we can respond to a game where we had an opportunity to win,” Hedberg said. “It’s a huge game, going up to the University of North Dakota, the defending national champions, a great opponent.”
“Obviously, with a tough loss like this, it’s going to be a good test of where this team is at,” Heckendorf said. “It’s another big game. In the NCC, all the games are big.”
The tough loss dampens the Huskies shot at the NCC title. Now all they can hope for is a few Northern Colorado losses to get back in the hunt.
