The St. Cloud State football team improved to a record of 2-0 this past weekend with a dominating 44-14 win over the University of Minnesota-Crookston.

The Huskies traveled to Crookston with a 1-0 record after a 14-13 thrilling win over the University of Mary to open the season in week 1. Saturday’s game against UMC was  an entirely different contest, as the Huskies lit up the stats sheet and ran all over the Golden Eagles on offense and the defense stifled Crookston offensively.

Junior quarterback Dwayne Lawhorn had a career-high day in Crookston, posting a remarkable 333 yards through the air on a total of 16 completions. He also threw for 3 touchdowns, two of those going to senior wide receiver John Pass. Pass would end the contest with 168 yards receiving to lead the Huskies.

 

The scoring spree would start early in the game, as sophomore Adam Stage would kick a 46-yard field goal to make it 3-0. Defensively, St. Cloud State would force a pair of punts that would be followed up by a 5-play 54-yard touchdown drive as it finished with a Lawhorn pass finding senior John Pass for 27 yards. The score would give them a 10-0 lead over UMC.

 

Crookston would respond to the Huskies score, as they put together a scoring drive of their own on 9 plays for 75 yards. Junior running back Jalin Scott would finish the drive with a 27 yard touchdown run to cut the Huskies lead to 10-7.

 

It would not take long into the second quarter as the Huskies would kick into full gear. Adam Stage hit his second field goal of the game making the score 13-7 early in the 2nd quarter. The scoring would not stop there, as the St. Cloud State offense would push the lead to 20-7 after an 11 play 80-yard drive was finished by senior Greg Lewis running it into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown.

 

Scoring trends would remain for the Huskies scoring efforts, as junior running back Curtwan Evans would get himself on the score sheet in the 3rd quarter with a touchdown run of 6 yards.Quarterback Dwayne Lawhorn connected with sophomore wide receiver Tanner Teige for a big gain of 34 yards. With 5:40 remaining in the 3rd quarter, the Huskies were in full control with a 27-7 lead.

Crookston showed life instantly after the Huskies touchdown, as freshman quarterback Tristin Robbins tossed it to freshman wide receiver Andy Groebner for a 70-yard touchdown pass. It seemed the Golden Eagles had life with the score at 27-14 late in the third quarter.

 

St. Cloud State’s hot offense would shine again moments later. Lawhorn would throw his own 70-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the new drive. Junior John Solberg was on the end of the pass and sprinted for the score.  The touchdown response took the life out of Minnesota Crookston, as the Golden Eagles were trailing St. Cloud Sate 34-14.

 

A twenty point lead to begin the fourth quarter had the Huskies feeling the reality of a 2-0 record, but they were not finished in the scoring category. Another explosive offensive play on a pass from Dwayne Lawhorn would grow the Huskies lead to 41-14 with 8:09 to go in the fourth quarter. Senior John Pass was on the receiving end of the score, collecting his second touchdown catch of the day.

 

After a difficult opening performance versus Mary, sophomore kicker Adam Stage would respond against Crookston going 3-3 on field goals. His final field goal was from 47 yards, to cap off the St. Cloud State 44-14 victory over the Golden Eagles.

 

With the offense stealing the headlines, the defensive effort was also very prevalent for the Huskies. Senior defensive back Jamari Manuel earned his first interception of the season, along with freshman Tyler Turriff tallying a forced fumble as well. Junior defensive end Ferris Ingraham also collected a season-high 9 tackles and a forced fumble in the win over Crookston.

 

SCSU moves to a record of 2-0 overall and 2-0 in NSIC conference play. St. Cloud State shifts their focus to a massive game at Husky Stadium Thursday night, September 13th, as they host #16 University of Minnesota-Duluth in a primetime NSIC matchup. Kickoff at Husky Stadium Thursday is set for 7pm.

 

Tune into KVSC 88.1fm Thursday night for complete game coverage, as the Huskies look to upset the ranked Bulldogs at Husky Stadium. Coverage begins at 5:45pm with kickoff at 6pm. The game will also be streamed live on KVSC.org.

 

Stay tuned to all of the coverage of SCSU sports at kvsc.org/sports and follow @KVSCSports on Twitter.