MANKATO, Minn.--Trailing by 10 points on the road, in front of the largest Blakeslee Stadium crowd in more than 15 years and staring into a strong wind, North Dakota's perfect record and hold of first place in the North Central Conference appeared to be in jeopardy.
However, UND's “Fortune 500” offense put together two late touchdown drives and the Sioux defense took a bow with consecutive defensive stands, as second-ranked UND rallied for a 38-34 win today in front of 6,201 MSU Homecoming fans.
MSU's Chris Nowlin scored on a two-yard end-around with 6:46 remaining to put the Mavericks ahead 34-24 and the Sioux were on the brink of suffering their first loss of the season.
But UND junior quarterback Danny Freund (Kenosha, Wis.) led the Sioux on a five-play, 67-yard scoring drive that used just over a minute and a half of clock, with junior running back Brandon Brady (Bloomington, Minn.) finding the end zone from two yards out for his second touchdown of the game. With 5:13 remaining, UND trailed 34-31.
The Sioux defense then held the Mavericks to a three-and-out on the following possession, forcing a Gerard DeWet punt that went out of bounds at the UND 19-yard line.
On the first play of UND's possession, sophomore running back Ryan Chappell (Grand Forks) lined up wide right and ran a short underneath route. Freund hit him in stride and Chappell outraced several Maverick defenders for a spectacular 81-yard touchdown reception, the longest catch of Chappell's career.
Chappell, who entered the game as the nation's leading rusher, finished with 43 yards on 15 carries but caught four passes for a career-high 154 yards.
The Sioux defense, which had struggled against quarterback Ben King and the MSU passing attack throughout the game, stiffened one last time and nullified any hope of a Maverick Homecoming victory. MSU advanced to the Sioux 37-yard line before freshman Joel Schwenzfeier (Hallock, Minn.) dropped King for a 16-yard sack, and on the next play Sioux safety Rory Manke (Jr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.) intercepted King at the Sioux 15-yard line to seal the stirring comeback win.
King finished 30-for-55 for 458 yards (his second straight 400-yard passing game) and one touchdown. Nowlin caught nine passes for 152 yards, while Damian Turner hauled in seven balls for 139 yards.
Freund, who entered the game as the top-rated passer in Division II, finished 22-for-32 yards and a career-high 346 yards and the one touchdown pass to Chappell. He led the Sioux to more than 500 yards of total offense (516) for the sixth time in as many games this season.
His favorite target was senior wide receiver Weston Dressler (Bismarck, N.D.), who caught nine passes for 95 yards. Sophomore receiver Brady Trenbeath (Cavalier, N.D.) added five passes for 52 yards.
In addition to Brady's two rushing touchdowns, freshman Josh Murray (Pepin, Wis.) scored on a pair of 13-yard scampers and finished with a career-high 84 yards on 16 carries.
The Sioux defense was led by a team-high eight tackles (five solo) by senior defensive back Tyler Weigelt (Fessenden, N.D.). Schwenzfeier and Alex Cadwell (Sr., Stillwater, Minn.) had the only sack for UND.
UND, now 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the NCC, prepares to host Nebraska-Omaha next Saturday at the Alerus Center. The Mavericks, who were idle this weekend, are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in league play.
Notes: Chappell eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing plateau for the season, joining Phillip Moore (1995-98) as the only players in Sioux history to do so by the sixth game of the season. Moore went over 1,000 yards during the sixth game of the 1997 season ... Dressler's seventh catch was the 200th of his career.
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