UMC Football Snaps 26 Game Losing Streak

The University of  Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagle Football team snapped the nation’s longest losing streak at 26 games with a thrilling 29-21 win over the Minot State Beavers in an NSIC game played at Herb Parker Stadium in Minot.

UMC entered this game knowing it was their best chance to win this before the season finale and the Golden Eagles played like it from the first snap. After the opening kickoff sailed into the end zone, Minot State started their first drive at their own 25-yard line. UMC’s defense flew to the football on each of the first three plays with a Demond Short (R-Fr., Stockton, CA) screen-pass reception leading to a four-yard loss after Anfernee Cooper (Soph., Fort Worth, TX) made the hit behind the line of scrimmage. A dropped pass on the far sideline sealed the Beavers’ fate on their opening drive as Minnesota Crookston earned their fourth three-and-out of the season. Into heavy winds, Jose Luis Moreno (Jr., San Lorenzo, CA) sent a low punt just 31-yards that was downed at the UMC 42-yard line setting the Golden Eagles’ up with great field position on their opening drive.
The Golden Eagle offense built of the defense’s strong start with a strong first series highlighted by solid blocking up front. On UMC’s first offense play Elijah Todd (Jr., Toledo, OH) highlighted his speed and size barreling across midfield down to the Minot State 38-yard line for a 20-yard gain. The Golden Eagles’ next went to the air with Jalin Scott (Jr., Houston, TX) hooking up with Jonnattan Mudd (Jr., Gardena, CA) for 33-yards down to the Beavers’ 5-yard line. Two plays later, Scott finished UMC’s opening drive with a three-yard run up the middle to secure a 6-0 lead for Minnesota Crookston with Jared McLemore (Fr., Lucas, TX) sending the extra-point through the uprights to secure a 7-0 lead with 11:56 still to play in the first quarter. “We talked about starting fast and punching them in the mouth right away,” explained Minnesota Crookston head coach Mark Dufner. “Offense moved the ball down the field and we felt like we could do some things offensively because we matched up very well.”
A personal foul for a late hit on Minot State’s second drive set the Beavers up at midfield. Levante Bushnell (Jr., Stockton, CA) took a carry for 12-yards to the UMC 38-yard line for another first down. On the next snap, Jemal Williams (Fr., Belgrade, MT) was stuffed at the line for no gain. On 2nddown a 6-yard completion set up 3rddown and four. Jemal Williams took the third-down carry just two yards setting up a fourth down and two from the UMC 30-yard line. On fourth down, the Beavers kept the offense on the field and looked to Williams again who rushed to the right but couldn’t find a running lane to gain the needed two yards, settling for one yard on the run and turning it over on downs.

Minnesota Crookston’s dream start continued on their next offensive possession which began at their own 29-yard line. A holding penalty on UMC’s first play pushed the Golden Eagles back to their own 19-yard line. Following a 3-yard run, Minnesota Crookston’s Jalin Scott went to the air finding Andy Groebner (Fr., Andover) for an over-the-shoulder grab good for 33-yards down to the Minot State 40-yard line. Facing 3rddown and four from the Minot 34, Jalin Scott tried to hit Jonattan Mudd on a slant, but the Minot State defensive back made his hit on Mudd too early drawing a pass-interference penalty giving UMC a fresh set of downs. An unsportsmanlike conduct flag after pass interference flag set the Golden Eagles up with 1stand ten from the Minot 13-yard line. After two-straight one-yard quarterback keepers, Scott dropped back to throw on third down and dumped it off to a wide-open Mohamed Mahmoud (Fr., Eagan) who made the first catch of his career and ran into the end zone untouched to give the Golden Eagles a 13-0 lead. The extra-point was deflected and hit the crossbar falling into the end zone keeping the UMC lead at 13-0 with 3:32 to play in the first quarter. “That was a play the coaches put in this week for Minot State,” noted Dufner. “They’d been repping it. It was a nice play, nice throw, nice catch.”
Minot State’s offense was handed a second three-and-out on their next possession with a 21-yard punt setting the Golden Eagles up at their own 47-yard line. The Golden Eagles picked up a first down with a 3-yard run by Andy Groebner after hauling in an 8-yard reception on his previous play, but a holding penalty pushed UMC back to their own 48-yard line after the conversion to end the opening quarter with UMC leading 13-0.

In the second quarter, Minnesota Crookston’s drive continued down to the Minot State 23-yard line where the Golden Eagles faced 4thdown and two. Jalin Scott dropped back looking to move the chains through the air but was dropped for a sack giving the Beavers’ possession on downs at their own 30-yard line. Minot State’s offense found a rhythm crossing midfield and reaching the UMC 46-yard with first and 10 upcoming. On first down Jemal Williams was dropped for a four-yard loss by Devante Nutall (Sr., Plymouth) who burst through the line-of-scrimmage to ensure Minot State would eventually have to punt.
Minnesota Crookston’s offense was forced to punt on their subsequent drive, but Stephen Day (Sr., Eveleth) managed to get 31 yards from his punt into strong winds setting Minot State up at their own 42-yard line. Lane Torgerson started the subsequent drive with a 6-yard run and then a 10-yard run marching the Beavers down to the UMC 42-yard line before Ben Bolinske (Soph., Minot) hooked up with Lavante Bushnell for a 42-yard touchdown getting Minot State on the board and cutting their deficit to 13-7 after the extra-point with 4:31 left in the half.
After a 17-yard kick-return from Rod Stewart, UMC started the next drive at their own 17-yard line with 4:25 left in the opening half. Elijah Todd got the offense moving with an 8-yard carry, followed by another 5-yard run for a first down. Three plays later, Todd broke free for another 15 yards moving the Golden Eagles across midfield. Two plays after that, Jalin Scott found Jonattan Mudd for 22-yards and a 1stat the Minot 20-yard line. Rod Stewart made his first, and only, catch on the next play for 9-yards, fumbling the ball after the catch but recovering it on the turf to keep the drive going. Jalin Scott finished the scoring drive on the next play gaining the edge on the far sideline and sprinting into the end zone from 11-yards out to cap off the 10 play, 83-yard drive that took four minutes off the clock and gave the Golden Eagles a 20-7 halftime lead. “It’s always important to start the game fast and finish the half fast,” added Dufner. “The beginning and end of each half were really critical.”

Minnesota Crookston started with possession in the second half, but the Golden Eagles were sent three-and-out by the Minot State defense. The Beavers drove to midfield on their next drive before Lane Torgerson was hit by Ali Alkhatib (Sr., Rosemount) 8-yards behind the line of scrimmage on a blown up screen pass forcing the Beavers to punt, but Jose Luis Morena was able to sky a 41-yard punt down to the UMC 10-yard line where Rod Stewart made one man miss before turning upfield and taking the ball 16-yards setting UMC up at the 26-yard line.  On second and nine, Jalin Scott found Jonattan Mudd open again, this pass good for 29-yards moving Minnesota Crookston to the Minot State 44-yard line. Three plays later, facing 3rddown and three from the Minot 37, Jalin Scott dropped back and lobbed a perfectly placed pass for Andy Groebner who hauled in the reception before getting tripped up inches from the goal line. On the next play, Scott kept it himself and lunged to his left, passed the goal line giving Minnesota Crookston a 27-7 lead after the PAT with 7:36 left in the third quarter. Both teams would fail to generate any points the rest of the quarter with the Golden Eagles just 15-minutes away from ending their losing streak clinging to a 27-7 lead. “We’ve got to come out and establish the field position and move the football and put points up if we can and fortunately we were able to do that with Jalin throughout the game,” added Dufner.

Minot State started the fourth quarter with the football at the UMC 29-yard line and following a two-yard run, Ben Bolinske hit a wide-open Lavante Bushnell for a 29-yard touchdown pass cutting the Golden Eagles’ lead to 27-14 with 14:16 remaining after the extra-point was converted.  Minnesota Crookston committed their lone turnover on their very next offensive play when Kevin Evans took a toss to the right side before rifling a half-back pass intended for Rod Stewart, who was heavily covered allowing Chris Rivers to make the interception setting up Minot State at the UMC 39-yard line after an 18-yard interception return. On 1stand ten Lane Torgerson made a catch for no gain before Austin Steele came through the line untouched on third down and rocked Ben Bolinske for a sack and 10-yard loss forcing Minot State to punt.
The Golden Eagles went three-and-out on their next possession but Stephen Day bombed a high 46-yard punt downfield where Lane Torgerson couldn’t catch it cleanly, allowing Julian Jackson to dive on the fumble regaining possession for Minnesota Crookston at the Beavers’ 27-yard line. Minnesota Crookston drove it down to the Minot 21-yard line before Jalin Scott scrambled for 12-yards on 3rdand thirteen to the Minot State 9-yard line. Minnesota Crookston went for it on 4thdown, but Scott was marked shy, controversially, of the first down on his fourth-down run turning it over on downs back to Minot State at their own 9-yard line.
With 7:09 remaining and Minot State trailing 27-14, Ben Bolinske orchestrated an 11-play, 91-yard drive concluding with a 13-yard fade route completion to Connor Beeston to pull to within 27-21 after the PAT with 3:30 and Minot State still possession all three timeouts.
Minnesota Crookston’s next possession began at their own 25-yard line. Elijah Todd picked up 3-yards on first down before reaching the second level on his 2nddown carry to pick up 14-yards to the UMC 42-yard line. Minot State’s defense would hold their dropping Scott for a one-yard loss, holding Todd to three-yards, and forcing an incompletion, but not without using two of their three timeouts and watching the clock run down to 1:53 after Stephen Day booted the biggest punt of his career out of bounds at the Minot State 8-yard line.
On Minot State’s first offensive play down 27-21 with 1:53 remaining back at their own 8-yard line, Ben Bolinske dropped back to pass and UMC’s Ali Alkhatib burst through the offensive line untouched and hit Bolinske who managed to get rid of it by throwing it at the feet of his offensive line. The incompletion drew a penalty flag for intentional grounding and because the penalty occurred in the end zone, it gave Minnesota Crookston a safety, a 29-21 lead, and forced the Beavers to attempt an on-side kick from their own 20-yard line. “(Defensive coordinator) Tom Miller brought some pressure, he’s aggressive and it was a nice play all the way around. Overall, (Miller) likes to dial up the blitzes especially when you get them deep in their own zone, hats off to our defense. I thought we really played well in all three phases.”
The onside kick was recovered off a deflection by Andy Groebner at the Minot 34-yard line. Minot State used their final timeout before the Golden Eagles ran the clock down to 11-seconds remaining facing a 4thdown and one in Minot State territory. Head coach Mark Dufner left his offense on the field to try and win the game and the Golden Eagles delivered with Elijah Todd squirting free on the right side of the offensive line for three-yards, the first down, and the win to snap UMC’s 26-game losing streak 29-21.
“I’m pretty excited here,” Dufner said. “The guys, coaches, players they worked hard and bought in. They stayed positive and fought and got a ‘W’ here today so it’s a pretty exciting day for us.”

The Golden Eagles improve to 1-3 on the season and will return to Ed Widseth Field next Saturday for their homecoming game against Augustana kicking-off at 1 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame Show beginning at 12:20 p.m. on KROX. Minot State falls to 1-3.

The UMC Football players and coaches hugging each other after the big road win in Minot

The Golden Eagles celebrate after the victory (Picture by Sean Arbaut of Minot State)

1st Quarter
11:56 – UMC – Jalin Scott 3 yard run  (Jared McLemore kick)
3:32 – UMC – Jalin Scott 12 yard pass to Mohamed Mahmoud  (Kick failed)

2nd Quarter
4:31 – MSU – Ben Bolisnke 42 yard pass to Lavante Bushnell (Jose Luis Moreno kick)
0:27 – UMC – Jalin Scott 11 yard run (McLemore kick)

3rd Quarter
7:36 – UMC – Jalin Scott 1 yard run  (McLemore kick)

4th Quarter
14:16 – MSU – Ben Bolinske 29 yard pass to Lavante Bushnell (Moreno kick)
3:30 – MSU – Ben Bolinske 13 yard pass to Connor Beeston (Moreno kick)
1:46 – UMC – Safety (Minot State Intentional grounding in the end zone)

Andy Groebner makes a catch (Picture by Sean Arbaut of Minot State)  
 LaDerek McCray with a tackle

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