DULUTH, Minn. – A second half surge and continued outstanding play by
Zach Roberson and
Elby Pope still left the University of Mary short against the second-ranked team in the nation. The Marauders fell behind in the opening half and dropped a 53-35 road decision to the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Roberson threw for over 400 yards and Pope had double-digit catches and triple digit receiving yardage for the third straight game each but their efforts couldn't offset four straight touchdowns by the Bulldogs in the first half.
After returning from an injury that forced him to miss six straight games, Roberson had thrown for over 400 yards in each of his three games since coming back. Today the junior quarterback completed 31-of-56 passes for 408 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. The interception was the first thrown by Roberson this season in 204 pass attempts. During these three games the Sonora, Calif., native has thrown for 1,277 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Pope caught 10 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65 yard score. In the last three weeks the senior wide receiver has 32 catches for 471 yards and four touchdowns.
Minnesota Duluth, tied for the Northern Sun standings lead with top-ranked Minnesota State University, opened the scoring on an 8-yard run by Beau Bofferding, the first of his four touchdown runs in the game.
The Marauders responded immediately on a fake field goal.
Ben Jolliffe turned from holder to passer and connected with
Zach Podoll for a 13-yard touchdown pass to trail 8-7.
The Bulldogs followed with four straight touchdowns, including two scoring strikes from Drew Bauer, and opened a 34-7 lead at intermission.
Refusing to roll over to the Bulldogs, the Marauders opened the second half by scoring three of the first four touchdowns.
Podoll caught his second touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the second half, catching a 19-yard scoring strike from Roberson. After Bofferding scored again, Roberson tossed two 20-yard touchdown passes, the first to Pope late in the third before connecting with
Jake East early in the fourth to pull the Marauders within two possessions at 41-28.
Minnesota Duluth stemmed the U-Mary run with a 75 yard touchdown drive that claimed 5:09 on the clock, concluded by a Logan Lauters 4 yard run.
Continuing to push the Bulldogs, Roberson found Pope all alone on a fourth down play for a 65-yard touchdown pass at 7:03, closing the gap to 47-35. Once again the Bulldogs rebuilt their lead, posting the final points of the day on a Bofferding 3 yard run at 4:49 to seal the game.
Podoll set career-highs across the board for the Marauders, catching six passes for 62 yards and two scores.
Myron Baldoz-McArn had five grabs for 60 yards and
VaShawn Pope caught four passes for 43 yards.
Austin Bolton posted his best career numbers for U-Mary, making 14 stops, including six solo tackles.
Troy Guptill had 2.0 tackles for loss and shared a sack.
Jacob Parker had his third interception of the season.
Lauters ran for 147 yards and two scores to lead UMD. Bofferding had four touchdown runs on seven carries and totaled 44 yards. Bauer ran for 70 yards and passed for 250 yards and two scores, completing 23-of-34 passes.
The Marauders slip to 5-5 overall and in the Northern Sun and are 3-3 in the NSIC North. The Bulldogs improve to 10-0 and 6-0.
U-Mary closes out the 2014 season at St. Cloud State University on Saturday, Nov. 15.
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