CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston football team fell 54-23 to No. 21 University of Minnesota Duluth on Senior Day Sat., Oct. 29 at Ed Widseth Field. The Golden Eagles would out-score UMD in the second quarter and would be down just 40-16 at the half as they competed hard until the final whistle Saturday against the top team in the NSIC North. 

UMD looked to have control of the game from the first kickoff return, which would be taken 92 yards by Beau Bofferding to the UMC 2 yard line. The Bulldogs would lead 26-0 after a big first quarter. However, UMC wouldn't back down and would be within 26-16 mid-way through the second quarter. The Bulldogs would keep the Golden Eagles at bay from there and would come away with the 54-23 victory.

Minnesota Crookston falls to 0-9 (0-5 NSIC North) with Saturday's loss, while UMD improved to 8-1 (5-0 NSIC North) with the victory.

The Golden Eagles finished with 280 yards of total offense. They were led by a career day from Rod Stewart (So., WR, Fort Worth, Texas), who put up six catches for 166 yards receiving. This included an 88-yard touchdown grab, the longest of the season for Minnesota Crookston.

Adam Connette (Jr., WR, Corona, Calif.), the school's all-time leading receiver, would finish with eight catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns. With the two touchdowns, Connette is now second all-time in receiving touchdowns moving past Mark Olsonawski and Marcus Cheatham. He needs 11 touchdown receptions to surpass Carl Aho. 

Nathan Cole (Sr., QB, Aliso Viejo, Calif.) would have a good day overall on his Senior Day going 12-of-22 for 232 yards with two touchdown passes.  Andre Person (Sr., RB, Detroit, Mich.) would struggle to get much going in the run game with 21 carries for 25 yards.

Taylor Spier (R-Fr., QB, Buffalo, Minn.) would come on late and go 3-of-4 for 40 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Defensively, UMC looked to the play of Omar Porte (Fr., DB, Brooklyn Park, Minn.) with eight tackles, along with Jake Newman (Jr., DB, White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Will Cross (R-Fr., LB, Turtle Lake, Wis.), who also had eight tackles.

Three seniors would also make big plays defensively as Kenneth McChristion (Sr., DB, Bloomington, Minn.) came away with an interception. Casey Kraska (Sr., DL, Stephen, Minn.) had a sack, while Isaiah Armstrong (Sr., DL, Fairfield, Calif.) had a bone crushing hit on a sack.

Minnesota Duluth would look to quarterback Drew Bauer, who was 17-of-21 for 269 yards with three touchdown passes. His top target on the day was Jason Balts with six catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. Beau Bofferding had nine rushes for 57 yards with four touchdown rushes. He would add two catches for 21 yards, including a touchdown grab as the all-purpose phenom finish with five touchdowns on the day.

The UMD defense would put pressure on the quarterback all day, finishing with nine sacks. Beau Bates led the way with 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Gus Wedig added 12 tackles and a half sack. Zach Bassuner would have nine tackles and 1.5 sacks.

The lone interception came from Bill Atkins, who would return it 20 yards for a touchdown.

Bofferding would start the game out at a ferocious pace for the Bulldogs with his 92-yard kickoff return. He would then take the ball in from two yards out for his first touchdown rush of the day. A missed extra point would keep it 6-0.

After a defensive stop, UMD would quickly score again, this time as Bauer connected with Balts on a 74-yard strike to make it 13-0.

After another defensive stop, the Bulldogs would score again. They would set themselves up after a 34-yard rush from Jaleen Jones. Bofferding would then go in on a 15-yard rush on a heads up play from Bauer to pass the ball behind the line of scrimmage to Bofferding. The touchdown would make it 19-0 not even mid-way through the first quarter.

UMD would score one more time in the first quarter set up by passes of 42 and 32 yards from Bauer to Balts. Bofferding would rush in for a one-yard touchdown, his third of the quarter, to make it 26-0.

The Golden Eagles would then make things interesting as they got their offense going. After getting into the red zone on a 26-yard strike from Cole to Connette, the pair would connect again from 12 yards out for a touchdown to cut into the lead. A Cody Kowalenko (Fr., RB, Coon Rapids, Minn.) two-point conversion would make it 26-8.

UMC would get the ball back as Jones fumbled in the red zone. The Golden Eagles would take advantage of the crucial turnover as Cole through a beauty of a pass to an open Stewart who got under it and ran in for the 88-yard touchdown. A two-point conversion attempt from Cole to Connette would cut it to 26-16. 

The Golden Eagles would try to take advantage of momentum with an onside kick but Tyler Morris would fair catch it giving UMD a short field at the 50. 

Minnesota Duluth would respond as Bauer connected with Keynon Phillips from six-yards out to make it 33-16.

The Bulldogs would finish up the first half with one more score as Bofferding ran in from six-yards out to make it 40-16.

UMD would score early in the third quarter as Bofferding tallied his fifth score of the game on a 10-yard pass from Bauer to make it 47-16.

The Bulldogs would add on to their lead in the fourth on Walker's 20-yard interception return of a Spier pass to make it 54-16.

The Golden Eagles would respond as Spier connected with Connette for a two-yard strike to make it 54-23. The drive was led by a Spier 32-yard pass to two-way player Dante Jones (Sr., DB/WR, Landover, Md.). However, the score would be too little, too late as UMD would win 54-23.

The game was the final home contest at Ed Widseth Field for 16 Golden Eagles. Ryan Hutton (Sr., WR, Thief River Falls, Minn.), Jones, Cole, McChristion, Kraska, Person, Anthony Talford (Sr., FB, Fresno, Calif.), Tanner Walsh (R-Sr., DB, Gaylord, Minn.), Armstrong, Drew McDurmin (Sr., OL, Aiea, Hawaii), Jake Christopherson (Sr., DL, Sturgeon Lake, Minn.), Tyman Hayashi (Sr., OL, Kalihi, Hawaii), Eric Rodriguez (Sr., OL, Woodlake, Calif.), Jarrad Lewis (Sr., OL, Houston, Texas), Mike Maw (Sr., K, White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Stan Harvey (R-Sr., TE, Long Prairie, Minn.) all wrapped up their time at Ed Widseth Field.

Minnesota Crookston will return to action Sat., Nov. 5 on the road against Northern State University at 1 p.m. in Aberdeen, S.D.