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National powers to collide
 Media Credit: Christine Hunter Senior quaterback Keith Heckendorf takes a snap from center Andrew Kaczor during practice Tuesday afternoon at Selke Field. Heckendorf and the rest of the Huskies go into this weekend�s showdown with the number 10 ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas.
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If the rankings of both the Huskies and the Pittsburg State University Gorillas are any indication as to how this weekend's game, it could get ugly quick.
The Huskies moved up two spots from the ninth to the seventh spot on D2Football.com NCAA Division II poll this week and are ranked at the number six slot according to the American Football Coaches Association after a 44-27 win over Western Washington University. PSU comes into this weekends match up ranked at the number ten spot according to D2Football.com, up one spot after a 56-0 schlacking of Lincoln University. The Gorillas are also nipping at the heels of the Huskies in the AFCA poll coming in at seventh slot this week.
SCSU head coach Randy Hedberg knows this will be a good test for his team.
"Pittsburg State has a solid team up and down the roster, and their a very good team at home," Hedberg said. "It's gonna be a tough test for us."
The Huskies come off last weekend spent in Washington that included a 17 point win, 589 total offensive yards and a combined 516 yards and six touchdowns from sophomore running back Matt Birkel and senior quarterback Keith Heckendorf.
Birkel knows that PSU is a tough defensive team and knows what he and the offense have to do to pick up the win.
"Coach Hedberg has told to us to limit our mistakes and play sound football and we should come out on top," Birkel said. "We definitely have to bring our 'A' game."
Hedberg said he and his team were happy with the win against Western Washington, but said they're looking forward to Saturday's game held in Pittsburg, Kans.
"We want to play well against them, we're looking forward to going down there, playing well and coming back with our third win of the season," Hedberg said.
Pittsburg State comes off a big win over Lincoln University to begin the season 1-0. In the contest, PSU's running attack had a good day as they accumulated 243 yards on the ground between 12 different rushers. PSU's five-foot-ten, 180 pound sophomore Joe Taylor rushed for 30 yards and three touchdowns. Freshman running back Germaine Race also followed suit and found the end zone twice and accumulated 50 yards rushing in the lopsided win. The passing game also looked good as PSU gained 246 yards in the air between four different passers. Junior quarterback Neal Philpot was eight-for-eleven and threw for 165 yards and one touchdown. The big story of the day was the play of PSU's defense as they held Lincoln's offense to just 53 total yards on the day. The defense would also record eight sacks on the day.
"They have a solid defense," Birkel said. "We just have work hard and play well."
Husky Notebook
Sophomore tight end Clint Grundahl will out be out of the lineup this week again after fracturing his clavicle against Minnesota-Crookston in the first week of the season. Freshman Anders Johnson received his first collegiate start in place of Grundahl. John Hackett has been converted from middle linebacker to tight end also because of the injury to Grundahl. The six-foot-two, 230 pound sophomore saw time in all 11 games last year and had 17 tackles and a fumble recovery.
Freshman defensive tackle Joe Niehaus suffered a hyper extended elbow with less than two minutes left in the first half of the game against Western Washington. Niehaus started the first two games for the Huskies after a four-year layoff from football.
"We are kind of concerned about that injury to (Joe)," Hedberg said. "He's a strong player and is a nice compliment to the defense."
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