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News
News
GRAND VALLEY STATE DASHES UMD'S REPEAT TITLE HOPES
Saturday, November 28, 2009
There will be no national championship repeat for the University of Minnesota Duluth. Grand Valley State University saw to that Saturday afternoon, keeping the high-powered Bulldog offense in check en route to a 24-10 NCAA Division II quarterfinal victory at James S. Malosky Stadium.
The day started out in an auspicious manner for No. 4 UMD, as junior running back Isaac Odim took the opening kick 91 yards into the end zone. The No. 3 Lakers answered with two touchdowns 1:36 apart before sophomore placekicker David Nadeau nailed a 34-yard field goal with 3:30 to play in the first quarter to cut the Grand Valley State lead to 14-10. Justin Trumble's field goal from 30 yards out four minutes into the second quarter put the Lakers back up by 7, a lead it would carry into halftime.
Grand Valley State quarterback Brad Iciek, who like Odim is one of nine finalists for the 2009 Harlon Hill Trophy, connected on a 32-yard scoring strike with Greg Gay at the 7:31 mark of the third quarter to close out the scoring.
"I thought our guys played exceptionally hard," said head coach Bob Nielson, whose Bulldogs defeated the Lakers in double overtime on the road in last year's NCAA II quarterfinals. "But Grand Valley State certainly deserved to win today -- they made more plays than we did."
After mustering just 59 yards of total offense in the opening 30 minutes of play, UMD moved the football inside the Grand Valley State 30-yard in each of its first four possessions of the second half, but failed to come away with any points. Three of those drives ended on interceptions and the other on downs. The Lakers, who have won four of the last seven NCAA II crowns, rolled up 393 yards on the afternoon, including 168 on the ground -- the most by any UMD opponent this season.
Odim was held to a career-low 67 rushing yards (on 18 carries) after having come into the day averaging the fourth highest run total in the nation (145.1 yards per game). The 2009 NSIC Offensive Player of the Year did, however, help the Bulldog cause by racking up 175 yards (four shy of the school single-game record) on four kick returns. Freshman quarterback Chase Vogler completed eight of 20 passes for 102 yard, but was picked off four times -- one less than he had in the previous 12 games combined.
"Our offense has to do a better job of putting points on the board," said Odim, UMD's all-time career rushing, scoring and touchdown leader. "But we really can’t make any excuses this time. They just outplayed us."
For the 15th time in the past 17 games, junior inside linebacker paced Robbie Aurich paced the Bulldogs in tackles with nine while cornerback Brandon Wood, free safety Brad Just and noseguard Tyler Johnson all were credited with eight stops. Wood and Johnson were two of the 12 UMD seniors playing in their final collegiate games.
"I can’t say enough about the seniors," said Johnson, whose eight tackles were a personal best. " We would have liked to out on top again but we can’t knock the season we had."
The Bulldogs conclude the year with an 11-2 overall record while Grand Valley State will take a 12-1 mark into next Saturday's NCAA II semifinal matchup with Carson Newman College.
"I said to one of their players on the field, 'See you in 364 days' because we'll be back and I imagine so will they,'' said Aurich.
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