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St. Cloud State University
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Sports
Huskies fight back, win homecoming
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, October 20, 2003
Media Credit: Ching Fung
Ryan Koch caught his eighth touchdown pass of the year versus South Dakota Saturday at Selke Field.
On a perfect homecoming Saturday afternoon for football, the Huskies didn't disappoint the 4,123 homecoming fans in attendance, beating the University of South Dakota 33-21 and improving to 6-2 on the year.
The end of first half found the Huskies trailing the Coyotes 21-14, but the second half was all SCSU as they scored 26 unanswered points to stun the visiting Coyotes at Selke Field.
The turnaround couldn't have been done without a few key plays from the Huskies. Trailing 21-7, the Huskies found themselves back into the game with a two-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Keith Heckendorf with 2:41 left in the first half. After the PAT, the Huskies trailed 21-14.
"I think we're starting to mature a little bit from the standpoint that we didn't panic when were down 21-7," said SCSU head coach Randy Hedberg. "I thought our players kept their poise, especially our defense. I think they really bounced back."
On USD's ensuing drive, the Coyotes drove 63 yards on their first three plays to get the ball to the SCSU 17-yard-line. On third-and-one, USD quarterback Wesley Beschorner faked before throwing toward junior tight-end Paul Tschetter near the right sideline. The pass was a bit short and fifth-year senior Eric Mickelson intercepted the ball at the Huskies' four.
"It was a good play-action pass because I kind of bit up on the run," Mickelson said of his second interception in as many games. "When I saw the tight-end release, I ran as fast as I could (back). Right when I looked, the quarterback threw it and I was hoping that I could lay out far enough to get my fingertips on it."
In the minds of many of the Husky players, if USD had converted on that possession, the ball game would have been a totally different story.
"I bit on the play-action (pass)," said Huskies sophomore defensive end Charlie Cosgrove, who had 2.5 tackles for loss. "All of a sudden, I looked around and Eric's diving and has the ball in his hands. That's big time. If they score, it's a different game."
Instead, the Huskies trailed 21-14 at the end of the first half. They came out firing on all cylinders, however, finding the end zone on their first three possessions to take the 33-21 lead. Heckendorf was near perfection in the second half, completing 12 of 13 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns. Completions were hard to come by for Heckendorf and the Huskies. Early in the first quarter, Heckendorf missed his first three passes and the Huskies were forced to punt four times in five possessions.
"Early in the game, we were down and making mental mistakes and killing ourselves and they capitalized," Heckendorf said, who also ran for a TD. "They jumped on top of us, put us behind and really tested the character of our team. We could have folded up the tents, but we just kept making things happen."
Fifth-year senior Josh Williams also helped the Huskies make the 14- point comeback needed to beat the Coyotes. Williams, who replaced injured sophomore tailback Matt Birkel (sprained left ankle) this week, finished with a career-best 149 yards on 31 carries and caught a career-best five passes for 61 yards in the game. The second half was the better of the two for Williams as he had 13 carries for 79 yards and had two catches for 40 yards in the second half, which was pretty spectacular for a guy who's never carried this much of a load on his back before.
"I averaged 10 yards a carry in high school," Williams said. "If I had carried that many times back then, I probably would have fainted."
Thankfully for the Huskies, he hasn't yet, as Williams has been a huge contributor to the Husky offense in the absence of Birkel. Heckendorf is happy with the way Williams has done in replacement for the offense.
"He's had opportunities to play (on offense) sparingly and every year, he's been called on to come into the game at times and every year he seems to get it done," Heckendorf said. "He's never been the go-to starter guy, but every time we go to him, he gets it done. You've got to give him a lot of credit. He's got a lot of heart."
Sophomore wide receiver Daryn Ploeckelman also had a stellar day for the Huskies offense. SCSU needed long yardage on two consecutive series and Ploeckelman made two catches to pick up first downs in both cases.
Trailing by one, the Huskies had second-and-26 in their second drive of the second half. Ploeckelman caught a 28-yard pass across the middle to keep the drive moving. Six plays later, SCSU tacked on another TD. On the offense's next series, SCSU had third-and-16 and Ploeckelman caught an 18-yard pass. Seven plays later, the Huskies found the end zone again.
"Daryn's one of those guys who has the flair for the dramatic," Heckendorf said. "Somehow, some way, he's going to make a big play."
USD's Stefan Logan had a huge day on the ground. Logan, a 22-year-old walk-on first-year player from Miami Jackson High School (Fla.), rushed for 141 yards and a touchdown on 21 touches, including a 62-yard scamper that put USD up 14 points.
Logan said his team figured they had SCSU beat and just put the cruise control on the rest of the game.
"Everything was just looking wonderful, everybody's heads were up," Logan said of the first half. "We came out in the second half dragging, like we knew we had them, like we had the game won. We were lagging around.
"Like I tell them on the sidelines, 'The game ain't over until (the clock says) zero.'"
The NCC win sets up a huge deciding game for SCSU next week in Omaha, Neb. The Huskies, ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll, play sixth ranked Nebraska-Omaha (3-1 NCC, 6-2 overall) at 1 p.m. in Omaha.
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