Minnesota Crookston football turned the ball over on their first two drives on the second-half allowing the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears to secure a 21-13 win in an NSIC game played at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul, MN.
After Minnesota Crookston won the coin toss, the Golden Eagles deferred giving the Golden Bears the football to start the game at their own 25-yard line following a kick-off through the end zone for a touchback. On Concordia-St. Paul’s first play from scrimmage quarterback Dom McKinzy (Sr., Kansas City, KS) rushed for three yards before handing the ball off to Lajuan Preston (Soph., Fort Myers, FL) who managed four yards on his first carry. Facing third down and three from their own 32-yard line, Dom McKinzy took a designed quarterback run to his right and broke loosed for 20-yards to the UMC 48-yard line. On first down and ten, Lajuan Preston rushed for nine yards followed by a five-yard carry to the UMC 34-yard line. Preston carried the ball for a third straight carry to the UMC 17-yard line followed by a seven-yard carry from Preston, his fourth straight run, to the Minnesota Crookston 7-yard line. On first and goal from the seven, Dom McKinzy rushed to the far pylon and dove into the end zone to cap off the nine play, 75-yard drive consisting of only running plays followed by an extra-point giving the Golden Bears a 7-0 lead with 10:47 remaining in the first quarter.
On Minnesota Crookston’s first possession, UMC picked up a first down with a pass from Jalin Scott (Jr., Houston, TX) to Shonte Smith (Jr., Pacoima, CA) for five yards marching UMC to their own 46-yard line where the drive stalled resulting in a punt. Concordia-St. Paul’s subsequent drive stalled after five plays resulting in a 10-yard punt into strong winds setting the Golden Eagles up at the CSP 46-yard line.
Facing third down and ten after the short punt, Minnesota Crookston’s Jalin Scott hit Shonte Smith over the middle for a 19-yard completion to the Golden Bears’ 27-yard line. After a first down incompletion, Jalin Scott rushed two straight plays for 13-yards to the CSP 12-yard line. On the following third down, Jonattan Mudd (Jr., Gardena, CA) was blocked from the football in the end zone while the ball was in the air resulting in a clear pass-interference flag giving the Golden Eagles an automatic first down from the CSP 2-yard line. On first and goal, Jalin Scott rushed for no gain, before Kevin Evans (Sr., Groveland, FL) took a handoff for a gain of one yard. On third down, Jalin Scott was dropped for a one-yard loss on a quarterback run. Minnesota Crookston settled for a field goal from 19-yards away kicked thru the uprights by Jared McLemore (Fr., Lucas, TX) cutting the deficit to 7-3 with 0:20 left in the first quarter.
Concordia-St. Paul’s next drive saw the Golden Bears reach the UMC red zone after a 17-yard run from Lajuan Preston moved CSP to the Minnesota Crookston 9-yard line. After Preston moved to the UMC four-yard line with a five-yard run, Preston took the next handoff and as he closed in on the goal line, Minnesota Crookston’s Skyler Quinn (Soph., Evansville, MN) ripped the football out of Preston’s hands and jumped on the loose football forcing the turnover and preventing Concordia-St. Paul from adding to their 7-3 lead.
Minnesota Crookston’s next drive started at their own two-yard line with an 18-yard completion from Jalin Scott to Rod Stewart (Sr., Fort Worth, TX) to the UMC 25-yard line. Later in the drive, a roughing the passer penalty following a late hit on Minnesota Crookston’s Jalin Scott moved UMC to the Concordia-St. Paul 41-yard line. Tristan Robbins (Fr., Muskegon, MI) came in at quarterback rushing for six-yards over the next two plays before Jalin Scott returned to quarterback and ran it for no gain on third down. Facing fourth down and four from the CSP 35-yard line. A false start penalty moved UMC back five yards before Jalin Scott was sacked for a loss of five yards turning it over on downs.
Both teams failed to move the football the rest of the first half battling the winds as the Golden Bears took a 7-3 lead into halftime. “We were pleased,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Mark Dufner of his team’s first-half performance. “We went into halftime in a one-possession game knew we had the football to start the second half.”
Minnesota Crookston started with the football in the second half and gained their own 34-yard line following a Shonte Smith nine-yard run on first down. On second down, Jalin Scott was strip-sacked from his blindside by Dylan Wood (Jr., Lindstrom) before Concordia-St. Paul’s Jake Portz (R-Fr., Plainfield, IL) recovered the fumble at the UMC 27-yard line. “We were able to move the football right away, but unfortunately we turned it over right there,” said Dufner. “That’s the exact opposite of what we wanted to happen there. We just shot ourselves in the foot.”
The first play after the turnover Dom McKinzy rushed for 22-yards before handing it off the Emanuel Jones (Sr. Mundelein, IL) on first and goal as Jones seized a hole on the left side reaching the end zone giving Concordia-St. Paul a 14-3 lead after the extra-point.
On the Golden Eagles’ next possession Jalin Scott completed a 13-yard pass to Shonte Smith for a first down to the UMC 42-yard line. On Minnesota Crookston’s next play Jalin Scott failed to execute a proper handoff to Kevin Evans resulting in a second-straight fumble recovered by Concordia-St. Paul’s Dez Bassett (R-Fr., Mankato) who returned the fumble to the Minnesota Crookston 31-yard line. “We had some issues with our mesh out there,” said Dufner. “It looked like the running back had too much of a firm grip on it and that’s why it came out.” On the Golden Bears’ next play Dom McKinzy completed his first pass of the game hitting MJ Williams (Jr., Orange, CA) wide-open in the end zone giving Concordia-St. Paul a 21-3 lead just 3:50 into the third quarter.
Minnesota Crookston failed to score on their next drive punting to the CSP 17-yard line. On Concordia-St. Paul’s next possession, the Golden Bears moved the ball to their 40-yard line before Dom McKinzy completed his second and final pass of the afternoon to John Damrow (Sr., Delavan, WI). The tight-end ran up the middle of the field to the UMC 34-yard line before UMC safety Will Cole punched the ball out of Damrow’s hands from behind. The loose ball was recovered by the Golden Eagles’ Trevor Long at the UMC 21-yard line.
Minnesota Crookston drove the ball on their next possession deep inside Concordia-St. Paul territory. On third down and ten, Andy Groebner made a 10-yard reception for a first down. A fifteen-yard completion two plays later between Jalin Scott and Shonte Smtih moved UMC to midfield. Facing third down and six from the CSP 49-yard line, Jalin Scott found Andy Groebner (Fr., Andover) over the middle and for 24-yards and a UMC first down to the Concordia-St. Paul 25-yard line. As the drive continued into the fourth quarter, Minnesota Crookston found the end zone for the first time in the game when Jalin Scott found Rod Stewart open in the left side of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown cutting the deficit to 21-10 after a Jared McLemore extra-point. “Jalin, he was under duress all day long and was fortunate there to get some protection,” said Dufner. “Rod got some separation and made a nice play on the football.”
Minnesota Crookston’s defense forced a punt on Concordia-St. Paul’s next drive, but UMC did nothing with their possession punting it back to the Golden Bears 39-yard line after a 26-yard return.
Following another Concordia-St. Paul punt, UMC appeared poised to further cut into the deficit. On first down, Jalin Scott passed to Andy Groebner for five yards before Scott rushed for seven-yards to the UMC 49-yard line. On first down at midfield, Scott passed to Rod Stewart in the middle of the field before Stewart spun into CSP’s Blake Evans who dislodged the football from Stewart’s hands forcing a fumble recovered by Desmond Hudnall (Soph., Reseda, CA) at the CSP 27-yard line.
Concordia-St. Paul fumbled their next offensive snap that Ali Alkhatib (Sr., Rosemount) managed to recover for the Golden Eagles at the Concordia-St. Paul 40-yard line.
Minnesota Crookston failed to capitalize on the takeaway after Jalin Scott picked up just one yard on a fourth down and four-yard run giving possession back to Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears carried their next possession 45 yards over ten plays while taking 4:15 off the clock before turning it over on downs themselves at the UMC 23-yard line.
With the clock winding down, Minnesota Crookston drove the ball down to the Concordia-St. Paul 14-yard line before Jared McLemore made his second field goal of the game from 31-yards away cutting the deficit to 21-13 with 28-seconds remaining. Minnesota Crookston’s subsequent onside kick from McLemore was sent high and deep over the front two walls of the Concordia-St. Paul hands team but bounced out of bounds preventing a Golden Eagles’ recovery and end UMC’s hopes of a comeback bid as the Golden Bears were able to kneel out the clock in their 21-13 win. “Effort overall has been good,” said Dufner. “Of course, there is going to be some frustration, but if there wasn’t any frustration that would probably be a bigger concern at this point. The guys have bought in and care about working hard and winning. We had some big plays and had an opportunity on the onside, we battled right down to the last play. We’ve got to continue to get better, but overall, we’re going in the right direction. Today was a step forward, but still not where we need to be. We still haven’t played our best football.”
The Golden Eagles fall to 1-7 on the season and return to Crookston when they host #5 Minnesota Duluth at Ed Widseth Field kicking-off at 1 p.m. The Golden Bears improves to 4-4.
|
1st |
2nd | 3rd | 4th |
FINAL |
|
| UMC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13 |
| Concordia-St. Paul | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 21 |
1st Quarter
10:47 – CSP – Dom McKinzy 7 yard run (Jonas Schenderlein kick)
0:20 – UMC – Jared McLemore 19 yard field goal
2nd Quarter
No scoring
3rd Quarter
13:06 – CSP – Emanuel Jones 5 yard run (Jonas Schenderlein kick)
11:10 – CSP – M.J. Williams 31 yard pass from Dom McKinzy (Jonas Schenderlein kick)
4th Quarter
14:52 – UMC – Rod Stewart 17 yard pass from Jalen Scott (Jared McLemore kick)
0:28 – UMC – Jared McLemore 31 yard field goal
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