Southwest State holds off MSUM

MARSHALL, Minn. -- Minnesota State Moorhead had the ball last Saturday, but ran out of time.

Southwest State made sure of it.

Ken Sather lifted the

Mustangs to a 42-35 victory, scoring on a two-yard touchdown run with 1:08 remaining.

The score capped a short drive that consumed more than five minutes. MSUM's final drive stalled as time expired.

"We were just a little short," said Dragons quarterback Brad Duerr, who rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

The victory ended a five-game losing streak for the Mustangs (4-6 overall, 3-5 NSIC).

"Finally," said Sather, who rushed for two touchdowns. "It feels good to win one again."

Duerr tied the score at 35 on an 11-yard touchdown run with 6:39 remaining.

Instead of kicking it to SSU's dangerous return men Josh Schleusner and Sather, the Dragons opted for an onside kick.

It didn't work.

"They did a great job of returning kicks," MSUM coach Ralph Micheli said. "Somebody asked me why I kicked the onside kick (in the fourth quarter)? They'd been already starting at midfield to begin with. We were a foot away from recovering that."

The Mustangs recovered the onside attempt with 6:32 to play at the Dragon 43-yard line. SSU then methodically worked down the field to the MSUM 13, eating up time in the process.

Rob Fagnan scrambled seven yards for a critical third-down conversion to set up a first-and-goal at the 6.

Two plays later, Sather scored the game-winner. The 11-play march ate up 5:24.

"That's what we wanted to do," Sather said. "The defense was getting kind of tired because we'd left them on the field for a while there in the second half. We had to give them time to rest."

The Dragons advanced to the Mustang 35 on the ensuing possession. But Duerr was sacked, forcing a second-and-long and slowing the march. His final pass was completed to Robert Moore for 11 yards, but time expired on the play.

"Running is more of our game; we had to come down and throw, and they knew we were going to throw," Duerr said. "They were in a prevent defense. I think if we would have had a little more time, our offense could have kept rolling."

MSUM 0 14 7 14--35

SSU 14 7 0 21--42

SSU--Strommer 24 pass from Fagnan (Howie kick)

SSU-Strommer 45 pass from Fagnan (Howie kick)

MSUM--Duerr 30 run (Greer kick)

MSUM--Carter 1 run (Greer kick)

SSU--Fagnan 1 run (Howie kick)

MSUM--Duerr 20 run (Greer kick)

SSU--Price 78 fumble return (Howie kick)

MSUM--Zupke 1 run (Greer kick)

SSU--Sather 2 run (Howie kick)

MSUM--Duerr 11 run (Greer kick)

SSU--Sather 2 run (Howie kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

MSUM SSU

First downs 22 16

Rushes-yards 56-316 37-106

Passing 137 258

Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 16-26-2

Total yards 453 364

Penalties-Yards 4-30 7-60

Time of Possession 30:07 29:53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: MSUM, Duerr 23-176, Carter 11-71, Wang 7-29, Zupke 11-22, Sternhagen 4-18. SSU, Sather 27-94, Whitten 3-12, Fagnan 5-5

PASSING: MSUM, Duerr, 11-24-1 137 yards. SSU, Fagnan 16-26-2 258.

RECEIVING: MSUM, Davison 4-37, Carter 1-37, Zupke 1-15, Sternhagen 1-12, Ernst 1-11, Moore 1-11,Sessions 1-9, Blackburn. SSU, Strommer 6-117, Denson 4-93, Schleusner 4-42, Nitchals 1-4, Sather 1-4.