St. Cloud, Minn. --- Redshirt freshman Mitch Brozovich fired an eight-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wideout Keyvan Rudd as the Mavericks earned a 25-21 victory over St. Cloud State – its first in the City of St. Cloud since Oct. 16, 1999 – bringing the vaunted Traveling Training Kit back to Minnesota State University.

“I am so proud of the way our guys played tonight,” said acting head coach Aaron Keen.  “We overcame lot of adversity and we battled our tails off.  I couldn’t be happier for those young men.”

Brozovich – who entered the game when starting quarterback, junior Jon Wolf was injured ­­ –finished the night completing 10-of-16 passes for 113 yards and that touchdown pass to Rudd.

The game opened as junior kicker Sam Brockshus booted a 40-yard field goal three minutes and 39 seconds into the contest to give the Mavericks and early 3-0 lead.

On the ensuing possession, the Mavericks forced the Huskies into a three-and-out before giving SCSU the ball back on a fumble.  Six plays later, SCSU quarterback Phillip Klaphake found Michael Walker for a 41-yard touchdown pass on an inside screen as SCSU took a 7-3 lead with 6:17 remaining in the first quarter.

The back-and-forth scoring continued as redshirt freshman Connor Thomas – who returned the kick 39 yards to start the drive – pounded in a one-yard run at the 14:56 mark of the second quarter.  Brockshus added the PAT as MSU took a 10-7 lead on SCSU.

The Huskies continued scoring trend as Walker punched in a one-yard touchdown run to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive that used 9:37.  The drive was kept alive as SCSU wideout Renard Robinson hauled in a pair of catches for first downs to keep the drive alive. 

After both teams traded scoreless drives – one when SCSU blocked a 31-yard field goal by Brockshus and another when SCSU had to punt out of the shadow of its own goal post –  Wolf found redshirt freshman wideout Kyle Riggott for a nine-yard scoring strike with 37 seconds left in the first half.  Brockshus PAT sailed wide right as MSU took a 16-14 lead into the break.

The Huskies regained the lead on the first possession of the second half as Klaphake found Chad Peterson for a 44-yard touchdown strike giving SCSU a 21-16 edge after the extra point.

The Maverick special teams picked up a safety at the 6:04 mark when the snap on a Husky punt was mishandled and recovered in the endzone 40 yards later as the deficit was cut to 21-18.

Both teams would trade scoreless possessions before Brozovich’s herocis.

Offensively, the Mavericks were led by Thielen who caught six passes for 109 yards.  Wolf completed 11-of-14 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown before being injured.  Rudd added five catches for 52 yards while sophomore running back Andy Pfeiffer rushed 14 times for a team-high 47 yards.

Defensively senior linebacker Marcus Hall-Oliver led MSU with seven tackles while junior defensive end Chris Schaudt had six tackles, including two sacks and a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

As a team, the Mavericks rushed for 123 yards and threw for 255 for 378 yards of total offense.  The defense allowed the Huskies to rush for just 23 net yards while they threw for 197 for 220 yards of total offense. 

Minnesota State (3-0, 3-0 NSIC) hosts MSU Moorhead Saturday at 1 p.m., in historic Blakeslee Stadium.

Listen to the game highlights HERE