Box Score Duluth, Minn. --- The Minnesota State football team suffered a 31-19 loss Saturday afternoon to Minnesota Duluth to close out the regular season portion of its schedule Saturday afternoon. 

Despite the loss, the Mavericks still earned a portion of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title, sharing it with Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State.

Minnesota State opened the game with a pair of field goals as junior kicker Daniel Padilla hit on a 27-yard attempt and the booted a record-tying 53-yard field goal with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter, a record he shares with Steve Springer (1982) and Herb Healy (1971).

Minnesota Duluth took a brief lead as Zach Hulce punched in a 15-yard run with 2:01 remaining in the first half.  The lead wouldn’t last for long however as junior wideout/kick returner Dennis Carter took the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown giving MSU a 13-7 lead with 1:44 remaining in the half.

The kick return was the second of the season for Carter and the third this year by a Maverick.  It was also the third career kick return for a touchdown for Carter, and his second against UMD – which is his former team.

Minnesota Duluth wasn’t finished scoring either however as it had a great kick return of its own to get the ball to the MSU 45.  Six plays later, quarterback Chase Vogler found Joe Reichert for an 18-yard touchdown pass as UMD took a 14-13 lead into the half.
UMD extended its lead at the 9:07 mark of the third quarter when Vogler ran a bootleg around the leftside for a 15-yard touchdown, pushing the lead to 21-13.   David Nadeau added a 22-yard field goal to give UMD a 24-13 advantage with 2:22 left in the third quarter.

Minnesota State answered with a two-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman Andy Pfeiffer with 11:51 remaining, cutting the lead to 24-19.  The two-point conversion failed.  The scoring drive was set up by a blocked punt by redshirt freshman Chris Fleigle.

The Bulldogs put the game away with Hulce 22-yard touchdown run with 5:43 remaining.

Pfeiffer finished with 16 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown, pushing him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season, with 1,053. 

In doing so he has become the ninth Maverick in school history to have 1,000-yards in a season.  The last Maverick to do so was Jake Aberg who ran for 1,234 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2009.

Senior quarterback Jon Daniels completing 13-of-22 passes for 182 yards while junior wideout Adam Thielen caught seven passes for 75 yards.  Carter added five catches for 87 yards. 

Freshman punter Sully Luepke punted four times, averaging 34.8 yards, including a 72-yard punt.  The punt was the seventh longest in school history and the longest since Gerard DeWet’s 76-yard punt last year at Augustana.

Defensively, redshirt freshman safety Nathan Hancock led MSU with 17 tackles, nine of which were solo.

Minnesota Duluth finished the game with 424 yards of total offense while MSU had 219. Additionally, UMD held the ball for 37 minutes and 37 while MSU had possession for just 23:23.

The Mavericks will await their post season fate over the next couple of days.  The NCAA Division II Playoff announcement is Sunday at 4 p.m., live on NCAA.com.  Minnesota State is also in the mix for the Mineral Water Bowl as the representative from the NSIC.  That announcement will be released Monday afternoon.

Listen to the game highlights HERE

To view the stats, click HERE