MANKATO, Minn. – The University of Mary football team won the turnover battle against the top-ranked team in the nation but Minnesota State University captured the scoreboard. In the Marauders first game facing a team ranked #1 in the country during U-Mary's NCAA era, the homestanding Mavericks claimed a 48-0 win.
An opportunistic Marauders defense intercepted three passes and recovered a Mavericks fumble.
Danielle Whitaker,
Preston Tescher and
Daniel Hunter all intercepted passes and
Jacob Parker recovered a fumble.
Unfortunately the big plays by U-Mary did little to stem the Minnesota State offense. The Mavericks posted 10 points in each of the first and second quarters before putting the game away with 21 points in the third quarter.
MSU opened the scoring on a Ty Dennis 55 yard scoring reception on a pass from Ricky Lloyd just 2:45 into the game. Whitaker ended the Mavericks next possession with a pick. After forcing a U-Mary punt, Minnesota State drove 74 yards on 15 plays to score on a 29 yard field goal by Alden Haffar.
Taking over after forcing another U-Mary punt, Minnesota State went 41 yards to set up a 36 yard Haffar field goal. The Mavericks closed the opening half scoring when Jameer Jackson caught a 33 yard from Nick Pieruccini. An interception by Tescher halted the Mavericks next possession and missed field goal on the final play of the half kept the Mavericks lead to 20-0 at intermission.
After Minnesota State scored on the opening possession of the third quarter, a Hunter interception halted the Mavericks second drive. Two plays later, though. Patrick Schmidt picked off a
Caleb Buck pass and went 22 yards for another Minnesota State touchdown. MSU later added two more touchdowns, one with 56 seconds left in the third and one with 5:03 remaining in the game.
Whitaker finished with one interception and a pass breakup. He also had five tackles. Tescher had a team-high five solo stops, six total tackles and a pick. Hunter posted five tackles to go with his interception. In addition to recovering a fumble,
Jacob Parker broke up three passes.
Landon Smith found his way into the Mavericks backfield several times, recording a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss and the team's lone sack of the day.
Seth Walton led all players with 10 tackles (three solo). He had 1.5 tackles behind the line and forced a fumble.
Adam Woroniecki ran for a career-high 71 yards on 15 carries, averaging 4.7 yards per carry against one of the nation's best defense.
In his first career start, sophomore
Caleb Buck completed 21-of-34 passes for 135 yards. Brennen Doan caught five passes for 30 yards and
Zach Podoll had five receptions for 29 yards.
Dennis caught four passes for 109 yards and a score to lead Minnesota State. Jackson added five grabs for 82 yards and a score. Pieruccini was 9-of-15 for 165 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown. He also ran for 66 yards. Lloyd was 8-of-14 for 137 yards, one pick and one score. Connor Thomas ran for 73 yards and Chad Zastrow carried nine times for 72 yards and two scores.
The Marauders next host Wayne State College for homecoming on Saturday, Sept. 26. Game time is 1 p.m. at the MDU Resources Bowl.
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