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St. Cloud State University
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Football team's loss dashes playoff hopes
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, October 27, 2003
Any loss has to hurt.
The Huskies are no strangers to heartbreaking losses this season, but Saturday's 39-36 loss to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks hurts a little bit more because it effectively ends SCSU's chances of winning the NCC crown and making the playoffs.
"It's a tough loss," senior quarterback Keith Heckendorf said. "We can't make the type of mistakes on the road that we made and expect to win. It just wasn't meant to be."
History wasn't on the Huskies' side going into Saturday afternoon's game. SCSU has dropped six straight games in Omaha and hasn't won since 1991.
"As a senior, it's hard to go down there and lose the past three times," senior linebacker Shane Rohman said. "It's also hard because we also lost our hopes for a playoff spot too."
It's still mathematically possible for the Huskies to make the playoffs, but the way the rest of the NCC is shaping up, hopes for a playoff bid are slim.
SCSU (6-3 overall, 3-2 NCC) drops to fourth in the NCC standings. The Huskies were ranked sixth in most recent NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll, despite winning last weekend. The top four teams in the region at the end of the regular season make the playoffs. UNO (4-1 in the NCC, 7-2 overall) and North Dakota State (4-1, 6-2) remain tied for second in the NCC.
This game, much like two others this season, came down to the final seconds. SCSU had the last chance to tie the game with a 47-yard field goal attempt into the wind by sophomore Shawn Braunagel with five seconds left, but came up a few yards short. The swirling wind played a huge factor in Braunagel's game-tying attempt. His career longest as a Husky is 41-yards.
In any case, the kick landed short and the Huskies found themselves on the losing end of near last second heroics.
The Huskies trailed 39-28 with 8:54 to play after a 59-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Justin Kammrad, who finished with 205 yards and two TDs on 29 carries. It was his school record eighth straight game that he's had more than 100 yards rushing and second straight with more than 200.
"We gave up a lot of points," Rohman said. "We didn't play well, any time you don't play well against a team like UNO, that's going to happen."
Despite being down 11 points after Kammrad's run, SCSU drove 80 yards on six plays in 1:44. However, Heckendorf was four for five passing and scrambled for 13-yards on the drive that was capped by a 16-yard TD reception by sophomore wide receiver Ryan Koch.
Heckendorf would convert the two-point conversion and the Huskies trailed by three with a little over seven minutes to play.
After UNO's drive stalled, the Huskies got the ball back with about five minutes to play at their own 35, but the drive died at their own 49 and they punted to the Mavericks. After three incomplete passes by Mavericks backup David Slaughter, the Huskies got the ball with 2:46 left. That drive also stalled as they drove to their 38 before turning the ball over on downs.
SCSU got the ball back with a little over a minute left at their own 20 after the Mavericks punted into the Huskies end zone. Heckendorf scrambled for 36 yards before going out of bounds on a second-and-14 play to get the ball to the Mavericks' 33 with 24 ticks left.
"Their defense (on that play) was playing us in a way where no one takes control of the quarterback," Heckendorf said. "Coach Rudolph has always told me to take off (and run) on those situations. I saw some open turf and just started running trying to get the first down. Once I had that I was like 'okay, I have to get out of bounds.'"
The Huskies took two shots at the end zone. On second and seven, Koch nearly caught the ball over his shoulder near the goal line, but dropped it. The play after that incompletion, sophomore wide receiver Ed DeShazer got behind two Mavericks defenders in the middle of the end zone. DeShazer made a sliding attempt to catch the ball, but it landed incomplete.
With that, Braunagel trotted onto the field for the game-tying field goal. In the third quarter, he had missed a 37-yard attempt wide left to tie the game.
"Personally, I don't think the game should have come down to the field goal," Heckendorf said. "It's not (Braunagel's) fault, he made some key PATs for us. I would have liked to have seen any kicker in the conference make a kick like that in that kind of wind."
Heckendorf played one of the best games of his collegiate career. He completed 32 of 56 passes for 345 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. He also was second on the team in rushing with six carries for 57 yards.
Sophomore running back Matt Birkel missed his third straight game with a sprained left ankle. Fifth-year senior running back Josh Williams had 24 carries for 98 yards and his first rushing TD of the season. He caught a team-leading eight passes for 88 yards for the Huskies, who had 506 yards of total offense.
Heckendorf's biggest concern now is finishing on a positive note.
"We have to rally the troops," Heckendorf said. "It's a tough thing to swallow, but now we have to come back and say 'Hey, do we wanna finish 6-5 or 8-3.'"
"As a senior, it's sad to know that you're down to your last two games and it could be the last games of your career. There's not a lot of words that can describe it."
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