The Augustana Vikings offense scored on all six of their drives in the first half for a 38-0 lead and they cruised to a 48-3 to spoil the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle homecoming in an NSIC game played at Ed Widseth Field in Crookston.
The Golden Eagles started with the football and picked up a first down after an 11-yard Jalin Scott (Jr., Houston, TX) quarterback keeper marked the ball down to the UMC 35-yard line. Jalin Scott carried the ball on the next play for 4-yards before Elijah Todd (Jr., Toledo, OH) carried the football forward for two more before an incompletion forced a Golden Eagles’ punt of just 23-yards by Stephen Day (R-Sr., Eveleth) down to the Augustana 36-yard line.
Augustana struck with a big play immediately with Braiden Petersen (Fr., Brandon, SD) busting loose for a 34-yard carry out to the Minnesota Crookston 30-yard line. After an 8-yard pass, Petersen ran for an additional 20-yards before stumbling down at the UMC 2-yard line. After an incompletion on first down, Shahan Ameen (R-Fr., Rochester) broke through the goal line with a two-yard carry giving the Vikings a 7-0 lead, following the Luis Guarita (R-Fr., Sao Paulo, Brazil) extra-point with 11:37 left in the first quarter.
The Golden Eagles started their second drive moving backward following a first down carry for three yards. Facing third down and ten, Jalin Scott dropped back to throw and connected with Andy Groebner (Fr., Andover) for a 16-yard reception and first down to the UMC 34-yard line. A first down sack lost Minnesota Crookston three-yards and stalled the drive forcing another Stephen Day punt to the Augustana 36-yard line.
Following a first down incompletion on the Vikings’ subsequent snap, Kyle Saddler (Soph., Frisco, TX) hooked up with Sean Engel (Soph., Chaska) for 18-yards and a first down out to the UMC 41-yard line. Saddler threw to Anthony Karmazyn (Jr., Centennial, CO) on Augustana’s next play for another eleven yards to the UMC 30-yard line. Braiden Petersen carried the ball for nine more yards two plays later before converting on third down with a three-yard rush to the UMC 18-yard line. A fifteen-yard pass from Kyle Saddler to Brett Shepley (Jr., Burnsville) capped off the drive two plays later giving the Vikings a 14-0 lead after the extra point with 5:27 left in the first quarter.
On Minnesota Crookston’s next drive, the Golden Eagles’ Jalin Scott hit freshman Andy Groebner for 18-yards allowing UMC to reach midfield for the first time, but a 15-yard loss following a Jalin Scott sack forced Stephen Day to punt for a third straight possession to the Augustana 37-yard line. Following two straight incompletions, UMC jumped offsides giving the Vikings five free yards and setting the visitors up with third down and five from the Augustana 42-yard line. Kyle Saddler converted the third down with a screen-pass to Braiden Petersen for 32-yards out to the UMC 26-yard line. Minnesota Crookston’s defense forced a third down and two, but the Vikings’ Nick Novak (Fr., Boerne, TX) pushed forward with a two-yard run giving Augustana a first down to start the second quarter.
Despite starting the quarter with a fresh set of downs, Augustana’s offense failed to gain yards on their first two plays of the quarter before Novak ran through a big hole to the left side gaining 11-yards and marching the Vikings to the UMC 5-yard line. With Augustana marched down to the two-yard line after two straight rushes, Kyle Saddler went to the air on third down and hit Sean Engel on a fade route to the far sideline where the 6-5 wide receiver leaped over the shorter UMC defensive-back hauling in the touchdown reception and giving Augustana a 21-0 lead after the extra point with 13:26 left in the half.
Minnesota Crookston’s next drive ended with a three-and-out with a 47-yard Stephen Day punt pinning Augustana to their own 28-yard line. The Vikings responded on their next possession with a 35-yard pass from Saddler to Drew Reinschmidt who sprinted down the Minnesota Crookston sideline to the UMC 37-yard line. Two plays later, Saddler hit Shahan Ameen for 10 more yards before ending the drive with a second straight touchdown pass to Sean Engel for 27-yards and a 28-0 Augustana lead with 11:10 left in the first half.
Minnesota Crookston’s longest drive of the first half started at their own 27-yard line before Jalin Scott ran to the 35-yard line on an eight-yard carry. Facing third down and two, Elijah Todd carried the ball seven yards for a first down before carrying the football another eight yards on the next snap. UMC crossed into Augustana territory following a Jalin Scott three-yard run to the Vikings; 47-yard line, before completing a pass to Andy Groebner for 7-yards. On third down and one, Scott carried the ball for four additional yards to the Augustana 34-yard line. Following an Augustana timeout, Todd was dropped for a one-yard loss before Jalin Scott was stood up at the line of scrimmage. Pressure forced Scott to run for just three yards on third down, but a pass interference flag on UMC’s fourth-down conversion try resulted in fifteen yards and an automatic first down after Rod Stewart (Sr., Fort Worth, TX) was grabbed while the ball was floated towards the near sideline. Two plays later, Stewart was hit early on a slant route resulting in a five-yard spot foul pass interference call marking UMC at the Augustana 9-yard line. After a three-yard Todd run on first down an incompletion and sack dropped the Golden Eagles back to the Augustana 15-yard line where Jake Newman (R-Sr., White Bear Lake) pushed a 32-yard field goal wide right with 3:36 left in the half.
Augustana didn’t struggle to score on their next possession with Kyle Saddler hitting Shahan Ameen taking a screen pass for 11-yards followed by an 8-yard run from Ameen to the Augustana 39-yard line. On the Vikings’ next play Kyle Saddler hit Nickel Meyers (Soph., Sioux Falls, SD) on a short slant route before Meyers broke free with a stiff arm ensuring he we would not be denied on a 61-yard touchdown reception giving Augustana a 35-0 lead with 2:19 left in the first half.
Following another Minnesota Crookston three and out, Augustana took possession of the ball at their own 47-yard line with 1:22 left in the half. The Vikings drove down to the UMC 13-yard line over the next eight plays setting up a Luis Guarita 30-yard field goal to close out the first half with Augustana leading 38-0.
The Vikings started the second half with the football at the UMC 21-yard line following a 79-yard kick return by Luke Fritsch (Soph., Sioux Falls, SD). Augustana found the end zone four plays later with Nickel Meyers bringing down an 11-yard reception for the visitor’s final touchdown of the game giving the Vikings’ a 45-0 lead just 1:02 into the second half.
After another Minnesota Crookston three and out, Augustana picked up 15-yards on a run by Ameen to the Vikings’ 31-yard line. Ameen broke another big run for 16-yards two plays later to the Augustana 45-yard line. UMC was called for pass interference on the next play giving the Vikings’ 15-yards to the UMC 40-yard line. On the next play, Saddler came under pressure and threw out towards the Minnesota Crookston sideline where Golden Eagles’ linebacker Ali Alkhatib (Sr., Rosemount) intercepted the football at the UMC 33-yard line before returning it eleven yards to the UMC 44-yard line.
Minnesota Crookston’s offense failed to capitalize on the strong field position despite converting on a fourth down and one play with an Elijah Todd two-yard run to the Augustana 45-yard line before Stephen Day was forced to punt down to the Vikings’ 10-yard line.
Augustana was forced to punt for the first time in the game on their next drive before UMC punted away their next possession out at the Augustana 18-yard line. On second down, Logan Huso (Jr., Eagan) forced a fumble for the Minnesota Crookston defense which Javon Chappell (Jr., Ocala) recovered at the Augustana 30-yard line. Minnesota Crookston was unable to advance the ball beyond the spot of the fumble recovery, before settling for a 47-yard field goal try. Jared McLemore (Fr., Lucas, TX) attempted the kick and sent it low over the line with enough distance to split the uprights and clear the crossbar for the Golden Eagles only points of the game cutting the deficit to 45-3. “You’re just trying to watch the officials to see whether it’s good or not,” said UMC head coach Mark Dufner. (McLemore) did a nice job with that.” Minnesota Crookston did finish with a 2-0 advantage in the turnover battle in the game after the fumble recovery. “One of the things we emphasized is takeaways,” Dufner added. “Trying to win the turnover, the few times they had the ball on the ground we were able to recover. Those are things we talk about and work on every day. Special teams did some good things, guys played hard in the second half. They played hard.”
With mostly back-ups in Augustana added one more field goal in the fourth quarter to close out their seventh win in seven meeting against UMC 48-3 while holding the Golden Eagles without a touchdown for the sixth straight meeting. “We knew Augustana was going to be a tough matchup for us today, they’re pretty complete as far as their line, running game, and passing game. Offensively we got some things, going but they’re so athletic. They’re a pretty good football team.”
The Golden Eagles fall to 1-4 on the season and will travel to Marshall for Southwest Minnesota State’s homecoming game kicking-off at 5 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame Show beginning at 4:20 p.m. on KROX. Augustana improves to 3-2.
| Box score |
1st |
2nd | 3rd | 4th |
FINAL |
| Augustana | 14 | 24 | 7 | 3 | 48 |
| UMC | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
1st Quarter
11:37 – Augie – Braiden Peterson 22 yard run (Luis Guarita kick)
5:27 – Augie – Kyle Saddler 15 yard pass to Brett Shepley(Luis Guarita kick)
2nd Quarter
13:26 – Augie – Kyle Saddler 2 yard pass to Sean Engel (Luis Guarita kick)
11:10 – Augie – Kyle Saddler 27 yard pass to Sean Engel (Luis Guarita kick)
2:19 – Augie – Kyle Saddler 61 yard pass to Nickel Meyers (Luis Guarita kick)
0:00 – Augie – Luis Guarita 30 yard field goal
3rd Quarter
13:58 – Augie – Kyle Saddler 11 yard pass to Nickel Meyers (Luis Guarita kick)
0:11 – UMC – Jared McLemore 47 yard field goal
4th Quarter
1:00 – Augie – Luis Guarita 31 yard field goal
