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St. Cloud State University
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SCSU reclaims Training Kit
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, September 29, 2003
MANKATO - Revenge is sweet.
After last year's 41-40 loss to Minnesota State University-Mankato, The SCSU football team wanted nothing more than to travel to Mankato to take home what they saw as rightfully theirs: the Traveling Training Kit.
Much to the hopes of Husky football fans everywhere, the Huskies did just that and tucked a 41-6 win under their conference belts.
The wind played a huge factor in the North Central Conference battle between the Huskies and Mavericks. SCSU seemed to have the wind on its side the entire game and MSU seemed baffled by mother nature's idea of a good time and was never fully comfortable.
SCSU, coming off two inconsistent games to non-conference opponents, racked up 549 yards of total offense and looked to be smooth sailing Saturday afternoon at Blakeslee Stadium.
The 12th ranked Huskies (American Football Coaches Association poll and 11th ranked by D2Football.com) picked up their fourth win of the 2003 campaign to become 4-1 overall (1-0 in the NCC). The Mavs were handed their fifth loss of the season, dropping them to 0-5.
SCSU's normally average defense stepped up and held MSU workhorse Bobby Ruffin to 70 yards on 29 carries. Ruffin also led all Maverick receivers with 10 catches for 59 yards.
"We moved the ball, but we just couldn't sustain a drive and march down the field to score," said Ruffin, who had 172 all-purpose yards in the game.
Senior outside linebacker Shane Rohman gave the Huskies a lift on the defensive side of the ball with nine tackles (three for a loss) and one forced fumble. Rohman, who was probably the biggest motivator on the day, also was a big contributor to holding the Mavs to 249 on offense.
"He was having a great time, and I'm real happy for the seniors who were able to come in here and get a little revenge for last year," said Huskies redshirt first-year free safety Mitch Denne, who had two interceptions in the win. "That's probably the most wound-up I've ever seen him."
Huskies junior wide receiver Tim Greene said he thought it was great to see the defense play so well in the game and was happy that Rohman had a good day individually.
Rohman felt the team's preparation going into Saturday's game was better than it was last year when the two teams met. The loss was still fresh in the senior linebacker's head.
"The difference was that our preparation increased 10-fold this year for this game," Rohman said. "Last year, it was like we pretended and we knew we were going to win. Our intensity was high today."
With more than 20-mile--per-hour winds in their faces, the Huskies received the ball in less than five minutes into the first quarter and proceeded to march 86 yards to go up 7-0 on a seven-yard catch by sophomore wide receiver Daryn Ploeckelman.
With less than two minutes in the half, the Huskies struck again when sophomore Shawn Braunagel connected with a 23-yard field goal and the Huskies led 10-0.
"We got the 10-0 lead going into the wind and that was critical," said Huskies head coach Randy Hedberg. "That was a big part of the game that we were able to take a little steam out of them."
In the second quarter, the winds picked up and wreaked havoc for both teams.
Husky junior punter Scott Dirkes had a school-record 76-yard punt with the wind to pin Mankato at its own 10.
On the other side, Mavs punter Jamie VanDenElzen had a 1-yard punt after their ensuing drive to give the Huskies the ball at the Mankato 26. Two plays later, Greene caught a 17-yard touchdown pass and the Huskies led by 17 with over 11 minutes left in the first half.
"I was hoping they'd lose the coin toss and elect to receive because the wind was so tough," MSU head coach Clarence Holley said. "They came out and drove the ball twice in the first quarter into the wind, which eliminates any wind problems for them. You kick the ball into that wind today, it was liable to blow right back in your face like that one did on us."
The Mavericks had another chance to get points on the board. Sophomore running back Matt Birkel, who had 163 yards on 20 carries, fumbled and Mavs All-American strong safety Jared Ziemke recovered at the Huskies' 48 with 8:35 left in the second quarter. The ensuing drive, however, stalled at the SCSU 33.
The Huskies took the ball back and scored five plays later on a 13-yard TD reception by Greene. SCSU tacked on another TD with four seconds left in the first half on a five-yard reception by sophomore wide receiver Ed DeShazer and went up by 31 at halftime.
For the Huskies, everything seemed to be in sync on offense. Redshirt first-year player Dan Kamin added SCSU's final score on the day and set the longest rush from scrimmage for the Huskies. With 2:35 remaining in the blow-out win, Kamin broke around the left end and tiptoed the sidelines for 97 yards. The previous record of 96 yards had stood since 1956 against then Mankato State.
Heckendorf Watch
Heckendorf looked back to his standard self against MSU. He completed 19 of 27 passes for 225 yards and four touchdowns.
Ploeckelman led all Husky receivers with five catches for 75 yards.
"It's a good way to come out and start the conference schedule," said Heckendorf, who has passed for 1,227 yards and 13 TDs this season. "We tried to get things rolling early on in the game and our offense got in synch. It's a good step forward."
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