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Huskies overpower Vikings
Somebody forgot to tell the SCSU football team and the Western Washington University Vikings they had a full 60 minutes to play.
"It seemed to me like both offenses were in hurry-up mode throughout the game," SCSU head coach Randy Hedberg said. "It was a fast-paced game."
SCSU defeated Western Washington 44-27 in a non-conference game to bring the Huskies record this season to 2-0. The game would see a combined total of 1,000 yards on offense as the Huskies outgained the Vikings 589 to 523.
"Defensively against the pass, we had too many misses and gave up too many big plays," Hedberg said. "Our offense was the key for us though, and their defense had trouble stopping us."
Hedberg wasn't exaggerating, as the Vikings had trouble containing the combination of runningback Matt Birkel and quarterback Keith Heckendorf.
Birkel ended the day with 24 rushes for 213 yards and three touchdowns, which lead him to gain National Offensive Player of the Week honors. It was the second time in his young collegiate career that he rushed for more than 200 yards. Birkel, a five-foot-nine, 210 lb. sophomore from Ellsworth, Wis., had 236 yards against Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 2, 2002 at Selke Field. He is one of four Husky running backs to rush for more than 200 yards in a game.
Birkel attributes his success to the offensive line.
"Overall, they're an experienced group and they help the rest of us out when we need it," Birkel said. "You could tell in the later parts of the third and fourth quarters that our line was using their size to overpower (Western Washington's) defense."
Senior running back Josh Williams also had a nice day with eight carries for 60 yards and sophomore wide receiver Daryn Ploeckelman got into the running game, rushing once for 10 yards. No Husky rusher was tackled for a loss and Heckendorf was sacked only once on the day. Heckendorf completed 23 of 34 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns.
"It was a case where we wore them down and our offensive line became more physical," said Hedberg, whose team had an advantage in size at almost every position.
Sophomore kicker Shaun Braunagle began the scoring spree for SCSU in the first quarter with a 29-yard field goal that tied the game 3-3. In the second quarter, sophomore Ryan Koch and Heckendorf posted a 10-yard scoring pass play to put the Huskies on top 10-3. WWU charged back with a 42-yard pass play from Steve Nichols to Andy Olson to tie things at 10-10. But Birkel gave the Huskies the lead for good with a 56-yard run at the 5:28 mark of the second quarter, the point after the touchdown however would fail on a bad snap and the Huskies would lead 16-10 with 5:21 left in the half. The Vikings' Mike Coonan booted a 47-yard FG to make it 16-13 with 1:27 left in the quarter.
Things kept going in the right direction for the Huskies in the second half as Birkel found the end zone again with a 33-yard scoring scamper at 11:48.
Nichols and Olson connected once more for WWU at 10:31 on a 32-yard scoring pass. But Heckendorf proved to be a factor once again and hooked up with sophomore receiver Ed DeShazer on a 42-yard scoring toss at 7:25 of the third quarter.
Birkel scored once more on the ground as the Huskies jumped out to a 37-27 lead in early in the fourth. The Huskies would tally another touchdown to seal the deal as Heckendorf tossed a 23-yard strike to junior Tim Greene with 7:18 left in the contest.
Good run "D"
Viking sophomore running back Duncan Sherrard, who averaged almost five yards per carry in the 2002 season, was held to 19 carries and less than 70 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The Vikings finished the day with 37 carries for 102 yards rushing and SCSU had two sacks on the day.
The Huskies also got help from two familiar faces in sophomore Charlie Cosgrove and senior Nick Peterson and one not so familiar face in freshman redshirt defensive end Ryan Walker.
Cosgrove, a sophomore from Minneapolis, had a sack and three tackles. Peterson, a senior from Wisconsin had six tackles and a fumble recovery off of a fumble forced by Walker.
According to Hedberg, it was a big play for the Huskies defense because they had just had a punt blocked on the previous drive.
SCSU punter Scott Dirkes's punt was blocked by WWU's Taylor Hutton and picked up by linebacker Derek Noble at the Huskies' 46 yard line with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. On the second play of the Vikings drive, Walker forced the fumble and Peterson recovered it and the Huskies drove 54 yards for a touchdown. That drive was capped by Birkel's third touchdown of the day.
Heckendorf Watch
Heckendorf, a preseason pick for the Harlon Hill trophy had more than 300 yards passing for the seventh time and it was the 15th time he has thrown three or more TD passes in a game.
In his first two games, he is 32-for-45 for 573 yards and six TDs with one interception.
Heckendorf was 35-for-62 for 507 yards and nine TDs with three interceptions in the Huskies' first two games last year. He was sacked four times in the first two games of 2002 and once this fall.
"Keith had a great game," Hedberg said. "It was the kind of game you'd expect from him and he's obviously a key part of the offense."
Heckendorf's start may seem more impressive once one realizes he's missing two of his main targets from last season. Matt Huebner and Ben Nelson, the team's top receivers last season, finished their eligibility at the end of last season.
Heckendorf had completions to seven different players against the Vikings. Greene, Koch and DeShazer have each caught one TD pass in each of the first two games. Koch has eight receptions for 132 yards to lead the Huskies, Greene has seven for 147 yards and DeShazer has six for 176 yards.
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