SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - It was a through and through, back-and-forth battle on both sides of the ball, but someone had to win and someone had to lose. When the final horn sounded, it was Cal Poly the victor as it defeated North Dakota 22-21 in Great West Conference action at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in front of a home-opening crowd of 10,220.
After coming back from a 13-0 deficit, North Dakota rallied to take a 21-13 lead midway through the third quarter. The Mustangs returned the favor working their way into a 22-21 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the game. With five minutes remaining, UND set up to regain control on a 41-yard field goal, but the kick and lead sailed wide left.
The Fighting Sioux (2-5, 0-3 GWC) finished with 306 yards total offence. Redshirt freshman Greg Hardin (Bellevue, Neb.) led the way with 136 yards on six receptions, including a 47-yard touchdown grab from senior quarterback Jake Landry (Grand Forks, N.D.). Landry finished 17-for-25 for 222 yards. On the ground, junior Josh Murray (Pepin, Wis.) tallied 48 yards on eight carries with a touchdown. Sophomore Mitch Sutton (Plover, Wis.) added another 33 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker Dan Hendrickson (Minot, N.D.) led both teams with a career-high 10 tackles (eight unassisted). Senior Kris Ankenbauer (DB, Murphy, Texas) finished with nine tackles (seven solo) and fellow seniors Joel Schwenzfeier (SS, Hallock, Minn.) and Curtis Dublanko (LB, Thorsby, Alberta) made eight stops apiece.
Schwenzfeier also added an interception just outside of the halftime break. It was his second interception of the season and the ninth of his career. He is just one interception away from reaching the UND's all-time career top 10 list.
Mark Rogers led the way for Cal Poly (5-3, 1-1 GWC) to record 326 yards of total offense. Rogers tallied 94 yards rushing with two touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 10 yards. Quarterback Tony Smith was 12-for-16 for 80 yards and Dominique Johnson gained 27 yards on five receptions.
The Mustang defense was led by Kenny Jackson with nine tackles, Marty Mohamed landed eight tackles and Bijon Samoodi accounted for six stops. The Cal Poly defense was credited with six quarterback sacks for a total loss of 38 yards.
Cal Poly reached the end zone first, but it wasn't an easy task. It took the Mustangs 8:52 and 18 plays to move the ball 78 yards downfield. The drive came to an end when Smith took it himself on fourth and goal. With the point after, the Mustangs took a 7-0 lead with 6:08 on the clock.
Unable to make headway on their first possession, the Sioux were forced to a three-and-out. On the ensuing Cal Poly possession, the UND defense came up with a few solid plays, including a big sack by Dublanko to pull the ball back eight yards and force a Mustang punt.
UND controlled the final drive of the quarter, but after being pushed back 10 yards due to a holding penalty, the Sioux were forced to punt out of a fourth and six with less than 30 seconds left in the quarter.
Heading into the second stanza, Cal Poly held a 7-0 first down advantage.
Minutes into the second quarter, the Mustangs looked to put three additional points on the board, but Jake West's 43-yard field goal attempt veered wide left.
After forcing UND to it's second three and out, the Mustangs found the end zone once again thanks to big plays by Rogers. On the first play of the possession, Rogers took the ball 12 yards on the ground. Four plays later, he ran 42 yards down the far sideline and just inside the end zone.
Trailing 13-0 with just under two minutes remaining in the half, the UND special teams unit opened a route for junior Dominique Hawkins (Plymouth, Minn.) to take the kickoff 48 yards to the Cal Poly 43 yard line. On the ensuing play, Landry aired it out to an open Hardin for a UND touchdown.
Hawkins finished with 71 yards on kick return and defensively, he landed six tackles (five solo).
The 43-yard touchdown pass marked the eighth TD connection from Landry to Hardin. It was also UND's first first down of the game.
The Fighting Sioux forced the Mustangs to three and out on the next drive to regain possession. The Sioux slowly worked their way downfield and looked to have good field possession, but the Jarrel Davis (Miami, Fla.) catch was ruled out of bounds.
On the final play of the half, Schwenzfeier picked off Smith at the UND 29 yard line.
Inside the new half, the UND offense bought out the same intensity seen in the defense to close out the second quarter.
It took the Sioux just 90 seconds to find the end zone, in fact, they found it twice. On the fourth play of the possession, Landry found Hardin on a 47-yard touchdown pass, but it was called back due to an illegal block in the back.
Now facing a first and 10 at the CP 38 yard line, the Fighting Sioux opted for something different. Under center, Landry took the snap and handed off to Murray. Murray then shuffled right and fired off a 25-yard TD pass to Hardin. With the kick from Miller, UND took a 14-13 lead with 13:20 remaining in the third quarter.
After forcing the Mustangs to another three and out, the UND offense lit up the board once again. Landry used Sutton, Murray, and freshman R.J. McGill (Phoenix, Ariz.) to move the ball 40 yards on five plays. The Sioux capped the drive with a five-yard run by Murray.
Landry quickly handed off to Murray in front of heavy traffic. It initially looked like he wouldn't gain much ground, if any, but he managed to snake his way through the Mustang defense and into the far corner of the end zone. With the PAT from Miller, UND stood tall with a 21-13 lead over Cal Poly with 9:08 left in the third quarter.
Just outside of the fourth quarter, West hit on a 22-yard field goal for CP to chip the score down to 21-16 North Dakota.
At the start of the fourth, the Mustangs forced UND to yet another three and out. On the ensuing drive, Rogers capped a six=play, 32-yard drive with a two-yard rush.
Cal Poly held onto the 22-21 until the final horn.
GAME NOTES: Captains: Jake Landry, Ryan Kasowski, Kris Ankenbauer, Joel Schwenzfeier ... Overall, North Dakota leads the series against Cal Poly 2-1 and leads the series 1-0 in Grand Forks, N.D. Cal Poly holds a 1-0 advantage when the teams have played in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and the teams are tied when playing on neutral ground. This is the first time the teams have met in San Luis Obispo, Calif. ... The Fighting Sioux have gone 6-3 at home and 3-3 on the road for an overall 9-6 record when playing on the 23rd day of October ... With the loss to Cal Poly (Oct. 23), head coach Chris Mussman's career record shifted to 14-33 (.298), his conference record moved to 3-7 (.300), and his record against non-conference remained at 11-7 (.647) ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 604-363-30 (.606) on the gridiron ... The Nov. 13 game at Montana will mark the 1000th football game in UND history.
- Go Sioux -
