Minnesota Crookston football turned the ball over six times leading to 38 points in a 55-6 loss to the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs, in SMSU’s homecoming game and an NSIC game played at The Schwan Regional Event Center in Marshall.
The game started promisingly for Minnesota Crookston’s offense. Facing 3rddown and 16 from their own 19-yard line, running back Kevin Evans (Sr., Groveland, FL) burst up the middle before cutting to his left and turning upfield for 18-yards and a first down. Two plays later, the Golden Eagles struck for another chunk play when Jalin Scott (Jr., Houston, TX) hit Andy Groebner (Fr., Andover) over the middle for 16-yards down to the SMSU 44-yard line. Facing 3rdand 10 from the SMSU 44-yard line, Scott was forced to escape the pocket rolling to his left before getting to the sideline and gaining six yards setting UMC up with a 4thdown and four. On 4th down, Jalin Scott delivered a screen pass to Kevin Evans, but the pass was dropped turning it over on downs.
Minnesota Crookston’s defense did their job to force a three-and-out on Southwest Minnesota State’s opening drive before Austin Wells punted it 47-yards downfield, which was fumbled by returner Jonattan Mudd (Jr., Gardena, CA) and recovered by the Mustangs’ Dakota Jaeschke (R-Fr., Moorland, IA) at the UMC 3-yard line. SMSU capitalized off of the turnover two plays later with a 1-yard touchdown run by Max Simmons (Jr., Bloomington) giving the Mustangs a 7-0 lead after the extra point with 8:24 left in the first quarter. “We had too many mental issues,” explained Minnesota Crookston head coach Mark Dufner. “Too many mental errors, too many mistakes out there. We’re just not in a situation where we’ll be competitive in any game when we do that.”
The Golden Eagles responded well on their next drive trying to tie the game. After a 1stdown false start, Kevin Evans ran for 3-yards followed by a Shonte Smith (Jr., Pacoima, CA) 6-yard run setting up 3rddown and 6 at the UMC 29-yard line. On 3rddown, Jalin Scott reconnected with Andy Groebner for 24-yards to the SMSU 47-yard line. Three plays later, Jalin Scott ran up the middle for 15-yards and another 1stdown to the Mustangs; 30-yard line. Following a one-yard loss and facing 3rddown and 11, Jalin Scott hit Shonte Smith in stride for a gain of 15-yards to the SMSU 16-yard line before completing a pass to Groebner for 15 more yards to the SMSU 1-yard line. Jalin Scott was stood up on 1stand goal before losing two-yards on a second down carry. On 3rddown with goal to go Scott was dropped for a loss of five yards on a sack forcing the Golden Eagles to set for a field goal. The 24-yard field goal try from Jared McLemore (Fr., Lucas, TX) was blocked keeping UMC scoreless. “We’ll get it looked at on film, but it was probably a little bit low”, noted Dufner.
SMSU started their next drive at their own 25-yard line gaining 10 yards before the first quarter ended with the Mustangs leading 7-0. The Mustangs drive continued to the UMC 43-yard line after Blake Gimbel (Sr., Marshalltown, IA) found Chance Nelson (Jr., Corning, IA) for a 10-yard reception. Max Simmons carried the ball for 9 yards on the next play before Connor Wilkie (Sr., Andover) hauled in a 16-yard catch to the UMC 18-yard line. On SMSU’s next play Blake Gimbel found Daniel Davis (Jr., Tarpon Springs, FL) wide open in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown followed by the extra point giving Southwest Minnesota State a 14-0 lead with 12:48 left in the first-half.
On UMC’s next offensive snap, quarterback Jalin Scott was sacked for 14-yards and suffered a hand injury on the play knocking the Golden Eagles’ signal caller out for the rest of the game. “I know that one that one of our assistants had to take him to the hospital,” said Dufner on his injured QB, “so we lost a quarterback and a coach on the same play.” With Jeremy Neuman (R-Soph., Andover) entering as Scott’s replacement, the UMC offense stalled forcing the Golden Eagles to punt to the SMSU 43-yard line. Minnesota Crookston’s defense picked up the slack forcing a Southwest Minnesota State three-and-out before the Golden Eagles’ turned it over a second time. “Jeremy has different strengths and different weaknesses,” said Dufner. “He’s one of the smartest guys on the team so he knows the offense inside and out so we’re still going to run our offense (with him in). Some of the run outs don’t necessarily fit his strengths but there are other things that he does well he just forced it a bit today.”
After Elijah Todd (Jr., Toledo, OH) carried the ball for one-yard on 1stdown, Jeremy Neuman delivered a screen pass to Tristan Robbins (Fr., Muskegon, MI), but the slot receiver had the ball punched out at the 32-yard line where Jon Dicke (Sr., Rochester) recovered the fumble for Southwest Minnesota State.
Two plays later, Blake Gimble connected with Daniel Davis for the duos second touchdown hookup from 32-yards out to give SMSU a 21-0 lead after the point after try with 8:17 still to play in the half. Jeremy Neuman was picked off on his next pass for UMC’s third turnover of the first half which Cory Hollowell (Jr., Corona, CA) returned 18-yards to midfield. The Mustangs capitalized on their third takeaway with a fourth touchdown, as Davis and Gimbel combined for another 6-points pushing the host’s lead to 28-0 after the extra-point with still 4:40 to play before halftime.
Minnesota Crookston answered the interception with their best drive of the game. Following an incompletion and a muffed snap that Neuman was able to recover on his own. Jacob Zweig made a 20-yard catch to the SMSU 41-yard line. As the drive continued, facing 4thdown and 6 at the SMSU 37-yard line, Neuman found Andy Groebner for 17-yards to the Mustangs’ 20-yard line. The very next play Neuman and Groebner connected again, this time down the far sideline with Groebner staying in-bounds before diving into the end zone for UMC’s first touchdown in two weeks. The Golden Eagles attempted a two-point conversion after the touchdown but Jeremy Neuman’s backward pass into the turf was deemed an incompletion forcing the Golden Eagles to settle for 6 points keeping their deficit at 28-6 with 1:49 left in the half. “Andy is one of those guys, a blue-collar kid who gives one-hundred percent effort on every play,” explained Dufner. “Andy’s developed into his role, he did a nice job and did a lot of nice things out there.”
Southwest Minnesota State closed out the half with more points, driving the ball 64-yards over 11 plays before Skyler Crew (Soph., Urbandale, IA) made his first field goal of the year from 28-yards away giving the Mustangs a 31-6 lead at halftime.
The Mustangs put the game away for all intents and purposes with their opening drive to start the second half. Facing 3rddown and 3 at their own 33-yard line, Gimbel found tight end Luke Narveson (Soph., Belle Plaine) open in the flats before the receiver turned up the field for 23-yards to the UMC 44-yard line. Hudson Walton added 14-yards on the ground two plays later before Gimbel and Davis connected for a fourth touchdown followed by the PAT which made it 38-6 just four minutes into the second half. “We were really shooting ourselves in the foot, so it kind of becomes let’s just win the (second) half there,” said Dufner.
Minnesota Crookston managed just one first down the entire third quarter with SMSU adding a 26-yard field goal by Skyler Crew giving the Mustangs a 41-6 lead after three quarters.
After Minnesota Crookston’s defense forced a turnover on downs to start the fourth quarter, Southwest Minnesota State’s Lucas Fisher picked off Jeremy Neuman and raced 37-yards into the end zone for a defensive touchdown pushing the Mustangs’ ahead 48-6 after the extra point. UMC’s subsequent drive ended with their second blocked field goal on a low kick that was easily blocked.
Tristan Robbins closed the game at quarterback for Minnesota Crookston and the true-freshman showed flashes of athleticism and a strong arm but was picked off on an ill-advised lob downfield with the game already well in-hand for SMSU as Paul Johnson secured the Mustangs’ sixth and final takeaway. “Tristin, he’s the quickest quarterback we’ve got agility wise, but he’s new to the offense and still learning that,” said Dufner. “Depending on Jalin’s situation he and Jeremy will be battling it out this week. Tristan’s got the athleticism, he’s just got to make sure he gets the right checks on certain plays.” Codie Meinen (Fr., Chippewa Falls, WI) capitalized on his garbage-time carries in the waning minutes of the game bursting through the line of scrimmage and outrunning the defense for a 52-yard touchdown run providing the exclamation point on the Mustang’s emphatic 55-6 blowout victory. “We’ve got to focus on the mental side of things,” Dufner summarized. “We’ve got to clean some things up this week. We’ll see that on film, it’s a team game and we’ve got to get eleven for eleven on each play.”
The Golden Eagles fall to 1-5 on the season and will return to Ed Widseth Field in Crookston next Saturday when the Golden Eagles host Winona State in a game kicking off at 1 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame Show beginning at 12:20 p.m. on KROX. Southwest Minnesota State improves to 3-3.
|
1st |
2nd | 3rd | 4th |
FINAL |
|
| UMC | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| SW Minnesota State | 7 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 55 |
1st Quarter
8:24 – SWMS – Max Simmons 1 yard run (Skyler Crew kick)
2nd Quarter
12:48 – SWMS – Daniel Davis 18 yard pass from Blake Gimbel (Skyler Crew kick)
8:17 – SWMS – Daniel Davis 32 yard pass from Blake Gimbel (Skyler Crew kick)
4:40 – SWMS – Daniel Davis 19 yard pass from Blake Gimbel (Skyler Crew kick)
1:49 – UMC – Andy Groebner 20 yard pass from Jeremy Neuman (pass failed)
0:00 – SWMS – Skyler Crew 28 yard field goal
3rd Quarter
11:08 – SWMS – Daniel Davis 30 yard pass from Blake Gimbel (Skyler Crew kick)
3:02 – SWMS – Skyler Crew 26 yard field goal
4th Quarter
11:32 – SWMS – Lucas Fisher 37 yard interception return (Skyler Crew kick)
1:10 – SWMS – Codie Meinen 52 yard run (Skyler Crew kick)
