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St. Cloud State University
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Huskies blasted by Gorillas
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, September 15, 2003
What looks like a good game on paper doesn't always turn out the way it's supposed to.
Things got ugly quick in the clash between the AFCA sixth-ranked SCSU football team and the AFCA seventh-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas Saturday night, but not the kind of high-scoring "ugly" you'd expect from two nationally-ranked football teams. No, this kind of ugly turned out to be the kind Husky fans weren't hoping for, as the Gorillas trounced SCSU from the start and didn't let up.
The Huskies left Pittsburg, Kan., with a bad taste in their mouths and a lopsided 46-14 loss in the books.
PSU handled SCSU in a nonconference game before a blaring crowd of 8,577 at Brandenburg Field in Carnie Smith Stadium. The Gorillas (2-0 overall) improved to 91-4-1 at home in the last 19 seasons. The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for the Huskies (2-1) going back to last season. SCSU's last loss was a 41-40 nail biter on Oct. 26, 2002 at Minnesota State-Mankato. It was the most points given up by the Huskies since a 47-21 loss to North Dakota State in the last game of the 2001 season.
The Huskies looked like they had resorted to their 2000 season form in the first half. SCSU had turnovers on its first two possessions and three in the first quarter alone. On top of that, the Huskies also committed three penalties in the first quarter.
"Everything that could have possibly gone wrong did," said SCSU senior quarterback Keith Heckendorf, who was 24-for-43 for 233 yards, two touchdown passes and three interceptions. "We had a few costly mistakes in the first quarter and being down two touchdowns on the road is obviously not somewhere you want to be."
Pittsburg State scored on four of its five possessions in the first quarter and led 25-0 after the first 15 minutes.
On the Huskies' opening possession, sophomore wide receiver Ed DeShazer lost a fumble after catching a pass from Heckendorf. PSU ran a play-action pass on the ensuing play and scored on a 49-yard strike from Neal Philpot to Jermaine Carpenter. PSU was up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
"In the first half, I thought we did well," said senior defensive lineman Nick Peterson, who was third on the team with six tackles behind Eric Mickelson and Chad Kruckman (eight apiece). "All their drives started inside the 50, we'd stop them and then get a foolish penalty and then they get a long pass play on third down. We just couldn't stop that."
The Huskies' second possession didn't go well either. SCSU was driving in PSU's territory when Heckendorf had a pass batted at the line of scrimmage. Junior defensive end Chauncey Jones intercepted the ball and returned to the Huskies' 14. Three plays later, Philpot threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Hellwig for his second touchdown pass of the game.
After two stalled Husky drives, PSU linebacker Chad Miller intercepted Heckendorf (his second pick of the game) when a pass went off tight end freshman redshirt Anders Johnson's hands. PSU drove 29 yards on four plays and Philpot capped the drive with a 1-yard run, his third individual touchdown of the day. It was that kind of game.
The second quarter didn't go well for the Huskies either.
Philpot would tack on another PSU touchdown to put the dominant home team up by 32 points. The Huskies however, would find the end zone just before halftime. With 2:40 left in the second quarter, Heckendorf threw a seven-yard pass into the hands of sophomore wide receiver Jason Koch. The first half would end with the Gorillas up 32-7.
The Huskies would strike again early in the third quarter at the 10:02 mark when Heckendorf tossed a nine-yard strike to Koch to put the score at 32-14. SCSU got the ball inside the Gorillas' 30 on each of their next three possessions, but did not score.
"The third quarter went okay and I thought we did a good job stopping them," Peterson said. "But that first quarter got us, we came out pretty slow at first and it just took us a while to get into it."
PSU would tack another touchdown at the 3:42 mark of the third quarter on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Andy Majors to Elliott Austin. After sophomore Shawn Braunagel missed a 32-yard field goal attempt with 13:28 left in the game, Pittsburg State scored on its ensuing possession. It was 46-14 with 10:05 left in the game after All-American defensive tackle Aaron McConnell rumbled onto offense and scored on a seven-yard run.
"Obviously you'd like things to go differently after this loss and change a few things," Heckendorf said. "We're going to put this game behind us, learn from our mistakes and move on to next week against Northern State University."
Heckendorf stated that he hopes the Huskies get another chance to play Pittsburg State later in the season, expressing that he would like another crack at the Gorillas.
"Things would be a lot different, I can tell you that much," Heckendorf said. "There would definitely be a different outcome another time around."
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