GRAND FORKS, N.D.--The storyline for UND's game against St. Cloud State this afternoon was established on each team's opening possession.
The seventh-ranked Sioux received the opening kickoff and marched 62 yards on 10 plays and found the end zone on a 15-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Danny Freund (Kenosha, Wis.). On St. Cloud State's opening possession, the Sioux forced the Huskies into a three-and-out.
That start crystallized a first half that saw UND score on its first four possessions while the Huskies failed to get a single first down on its four series, leading to a 59-14 Sioux victory in front of 9,320 fans at the Alerus Center.
The win was the 100th collegiate victory for Sioux head coach Dale Lennon, who also needs just two wins to match the school record of 90, held by current North Central Conference commissioner Roger Thomas.
Freund would run for another score and throw for three others, leading UND to a 35-0 lead before the game was 26 minutes old. Freund led an efficient offensive attack that rolled up 560 yards of total offense and held the ball for just under 40 minutes for the second straight week.
Defensively, the Sioux turned in what was undoubtedly their first finest half of football this season, holding the Huskies to just 58 yards and a single first down over the first two quarters. In fact, that lone first down didn't come until just under three minutes remained in the half.
Freund engineered touchdown drives on each of UND's first half possessions, with sophomore running back Ryan Chappell (Grand Forks) scoring on a 1-yard rush and senior Troy Ott (Dickinson, N.D.) hauling in a 1-yard scoring strike from Freund to stake the Sioux to a 21-0 first quarter lead.
Freund then found senior wide receiver and Harlon Hill Trophy candidate Weston Dressler (Sr., Bismarck, N.D.) on touchdown receptions covering 23 and 13 yards in the second quarter, pushing the Sioux lead to 35-0 at the half.
The Huskies finally started moving the ball on their opening series of the second half, keyed by a 53-yard run by running back Michael Graham. Graham would eventually punch it in from five yards out, getting St. Cloud State on the board at 35-7 with 11:58 to play in the third quarter.
But the Sioux answered on the ensuing possession with a 51-yard Brandon Hellevang (So., Fargo, N.D.) field goal ? his longest at home this season ? and tacked on seven more points with a 1-yard touchdown rush by Freund midway through the third quarter.
The Sioux defense supplied UND's next points, as Curtis Dublanko (Fr., Thorsby, Alberta) scooped up a botched punt snap at the Husky 5-yard line and took it into the end zone for a 52-7 lead.
St. Cloud State added one more score on an Adam Luckey 1-yard run with just under three minutes to go, but UND's Branden Dungy (So., Eagan, Minn.) punctuated the scoring on the next play from scrimmage, busting off a 78-yard touchdown run, the first of his career.
Freund finished 22-of-30 for 274 yards, finding Dressler five times for 94 yards and sophomore Brady Trenbeath (Cavalier, N.D.) five times for 83 yards.
Chappell carried 14 times for 83 yards, most of which came in the first quarter, and led a Sioux ground game that amassed 286 net yards. Freshman Josh Murray (Pepin, Wis.) carried 14 times for 53 yards.
SCSU senior quarterback Mike Hammerseng completed 7-of-17 passes for 74 yards and was sacked three times. He entered the game in the second quarter in relief of starter Jon Quesnel, who missed on his only four pass attempts.
Graham led all rushers with 91 yards on 12 carries, with 53 of those yards coming on one play.
UND, now 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the NCC, closes out the regular season next Saturday at South Dakota. The Sioux can clinch a share of a third straight NCC title with a win and a Nebraska-Omaha loss at Central Washington.
Notes: Freund's 2,318 passing yards are a new UND regular season record, eclipsing the previous record of 2,247 set by Kelby Klosterman in 2001. Freund's 21 touchdown passes this season are two shy of the UND regular season record also set by in 2001 ... UND, which entered the game leading the NCC with a 52-percent success rate of third downs, converted its first 11 3rd-down opportunities and finished 14-for-19 ... Chappell moved into fifth place on UND's all-time rushing list with 2,579 yards, surpassing Dale Kasowski (1972-75) ... Dressler now has 994 receiving yards this year, leaving him just six shy of a second 1,000-yard season, something no other receiver has done in the history of Sioux football ... ... Trenbeath's next reception will be the 100th of his career.
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