MANKATO, Minn. --- The Minnesota State football team won its sixth straight homecoming game Saturday afternoon as it defeated Concordia-St. Paul 45-10 at Blakeslee Stadium.
With the win, the Mavericks improve to 4-2 on the season, including a 1-1 record in NSIC South Division action. With the loss, the Golden Bears fall to 2-4, with a 0-2 division record. MSU now owns a 49-33-2 homecoming record. The attendance of 6,123 in the sixth largest attendance in Blakeslee Stadium history.
As a team, the Mavericks posted 484 yards of total offense, including 291 passing yards and 193 rushing yards. Senior
Nick Pieruccini led the Maverick passing attack with 197 yards and two touchdown passes. Senior
Ricky Lloyd and freshman
Ryan Schlichte each threw a touchdown pass of their own as well.
A total of 10 Mavericks caught at least one pass in their victory over Concordia-St. Paul. Junior
Erik Fuller led the MSU receivers with 65 receiving yards and two touchdown catches, with freshman
Shane Zylstra following right behind with 61 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. Freshman
Justin Arnold caught three passes for 58 yards as well.
Senior
Virgil Hammond finished his game with 115 rushing yards. This is the third time in his career, and second time against CSP, that he has eclipsed the 100-rushing yard plateau. Senior
Isaac Rodriguez rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown as well.
Senior
Ruben Ibarra led the Maverick defense with 12 tackles, while sophomore Zach Dodge notched three tackles for a loss. Senior Alec Vesper and sophomores
Jayme LaPlante and
Michael Palme each recorded a sack.
The end of the first quarter saw the Mavericks leading 10-3 courtesy of special teams. CSP got on the board first after a 32-yard field goal from Jonas Schenderlein, but MSU answered right back on its next drive as freshman
Anders Gelecinskyj connected on a 29-yard field goal to knot up the score at 3-3 with 4:15 left in the first. On CSP's ensuing drive, the Mavericks would force the Golden Bears to punt. On the punt, freshman
Alex Goettl blocked the kick, before freshman
Nate Tranel recovered the ball and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown to put MSU up 10-3.
Minnesota State added two more scores in the second quarter to go up 24-3. Rodriguez rushed into the end zone from one yard out to put MSU up 17-3, before Fuller caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Pieruccini to put the Mavericks up 24-3 heading into the locker room.
CSP opened the third quarter with a 15-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in a 14-yard touchdown run from Darius Chapes to pull the Golden Bears within two scores of MSU at 24-10 with 7:26 left in the third.
The rest of the game belong to the Mavericks as they responded with three more touchdowns to close out the game with a 45-10 win. Fuller caught his second touchdown pass from Pieruccini, this time from 14 yards out, before Zylstra caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Lloyd in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Late in the fourth quarter Schlichte connected with Zylstra on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 4:18 remaining.
Minnesota State continues its season on the road on Saturday, Oct. 15, as it takes on Augustana. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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