Concordia-St. Paul squeaks by Northern State in NSIC opener

Sunday, September 17th 2006, 7:15 am

By: News On 6

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Kole Goodchild passed for 190 yards and three touchdowns as Concordia-St. Paul beat Northern State 28-20 on Saturday in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener for both teams.

Tyrone Ruffin caught five passes for 45 yards and all three touchdown passes for Concordia (1-2, 1-0 NSIC). Goodchild completed 20 of 29 passes and threw scoring strikes of 10, 4 and 5 yards.

The Golden Bears also got some big help from their defense when Una Latu returned a blocked punt 13 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter, tying the score at 7 apiece. After exchanging scores, Concordia took a 21-13 lead just before halftime when Ruffin scored on a 4-yard pass from Goodchild.

Aaron Cawthorn ran 19 times for 93 yards for the Golden Bears, who had 202 yards rushing. Eric Clinton ran for 55 yards and scored on a 3-yard run.

For Northern State (1-2, 0-1), Jimmie Griffin completed 31 of 44 passes for 287 yards, including TD passes of 21 and 76 yards to Brian Jark. Jark caught 13 passes for 161 yards.

Elsewhere around the NSIC, Bemidji State beat Minnesota State, Moorhead 21-9 and Southwest Minnesota State beat Crookston 28-7. In the MIAC, St. Thomas beat Gustavus 21-7, Bethel topped Concordia 21-7, St. John's thumped Augsburg 60-0 and St. Olaf beat Hamline 31-6. In NCC action, South Dakota beat Minnesota Duluth 27-14 and Augustana beat Minnesota State, Mankato 21-16.

There were several nonconference games involving Minnesota teams, as well: North Dakota beat Winona State 49-2, St. Cloud State beat the University of Mary 37-14 and Carleton shut out Macalester 52-0.

St. Thomas, Minn. 21, Gustavus 7

St. Thomas forced four turnovers in beating the Gusties in St. Peter.

Jake Casey led the Tommies with 92 yards rushing and a touchdown. Ryan Jansen added 62 yards on the ground and another score and also completed 9 of 15 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown.

For Gustavus (1-1, 0-1 MIAC), Jordan Stolp was 14-of-28 for 123 yards and a touchdown _ but he also threw four interceptions. Matt Anderson had two of the interceptions for St. Thomas (2-1, 1-0).

St. John's, Minn. 60, Augsburg 0

Alex Kofoed threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns in the first half as St. John's rolled in Minneapolis.

The Johnnies (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) scored on their first eight possessions and had 573 yards of offense. Mark Waring rushed for 90 yards on 12 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Jordan Berg completed 14 of 25 passes for 148 yards, with one interception, for the Auggies (0-2, 0-1).

St. Olaf 31, Hamline 6

Matt Penz threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns as St. Olaf (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) beat the Pipers in Northfield.

Penz threw 72- and 71-yard scoring strikes to Andrew Schmiesing and Horace Gant, respectively, in the MIAC opener for both teams. Gant finished with four catches for 116 yards and two scores while Schmiesing had five catches for 133 yards.

Hamline (1-1, 0-1) managed just 128 yards of offense. Ben Ganske rushed for 59 yards and James Leary scored the Pipers only touchdown on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Bethel 21, Concordia-Moorhead 7

Bethel led 14-0 at the half and scored another touchdowns before Concordia even got on the board in Arden Hills.

Phil Porta scored on a 1-yard run to open the scoring and went on the rush for 141 yards on 24 carries. Bethel (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) ground out 216 yards rushing. The Royals had 353 yards of offense to the Cobbers' 256.

The Royals intercepted Eric Rodel three times.

Concordia (0-2, 0-1) scored in the fourth quarter on Rodel's 3-yard run. Rodel rushed for 58 yards and was 14-of-28 passing for 150 yards.

Carleton 52, Macalester 0

Carleton recorded its first shutout in ten years in blanking the Scots.

Darren Caspers threw five TD passes and Carleton (2-0) rolled up 494 yards of offense, including 318 yards passing. Caspers was 10-of-15 for 248 yards with no interceptions.

Macalester (1-2) managed just 162 yards of offense. Carleton's last shutout came on Sept. 14, 1996 _ against Macalester.

Bemidji St. 21, Minnesota State, Moorhead 9

Tony Schreiber caught six passes for 84 yards and returned a punt 51 yards for a touchdown as Bemidji State topped the Dragons in Moorhead.

Moorhead State led 9-7 early in the third quarter before Eurice Watson scored on a 12-yard run and Schreiber expanded the lead with his punt return.

Neither team got much going offensively; Bemidji State (2-1, 1-0 NSIC) had just 207 yards of offense to Minnesota State's 185. The Dragons (2-1, 0-1) rushed for just 13 yards.

Dustin Long was 19-for-32 for 169 yards for Moorhead State, and Tyson Bonkoski kicked a 37-yard field goal.

SW Minn. St. 28, Minn.-Crookston 7

Southwest Minnesota State jumped to a 21-0 halftime lead in handling the Golden Eagles in Marshall.

Zach Wyson rushed for 85 yards and scored a touchdown for the Mustangs (2-1, 1-0 NSIC) and Derek Townsend recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown.

For Minnesota-Crookston (0-3, 0-1, Rebbie Frazier rushed for 94 yards on 25 carries.

South Dakota 27, Minn. Duluth 14

Stefan Logan ran for 155 yards and returned a punt 66 yards as South Dakota won in Vermillion.

The Coyotes (3-0, 1-0 NCC) rushed for 241 yards while holding Minnesota Duluth (2-1, 0-1) to just 70 yards on the ground.

South Dakota took a 21-0 lead on Logan's punt return, a 2-yard run by Tyler Evans and a 57-yard scoring pass from Noah Shepard to Rico Hatter.

Minnesota Duluth got on the board just before half when Ted Schlafke threw a 9-yard TD pass to Tony Doherty. Schlafke was 33-for-50 for 242 yards and also connected with Greg Aker for a 3-yard TD late in the game. Aker caught 12 passes for 105 yards.

North Dakota 49, Winona State 2

Reed Manke threw four touchdowns passes, three of them to Weston Dressler, as North Dakota defeated Winona State in a matchup of nationally ranked NCAA Division II teams.

All four of Manke's touchdown passes came in the first half, when the Sioux rolled up a 35-0 lead. He had strikes of 44, 14 and 3 yards to Dressler, plus an 87-yard scoring toss to Brady Trenbeath _ the longest TD pass in school history.

Manke completed 20 of 27 passes for 294 yards. North Dakota (3-0) also had 10 sacks.

The only points for the Warriors (2-1) came when Dave Braun sacked Chris Belmore in the end zone for a safety in the third quarter.

Augustana, S.D. 21, Minnesota State, Mankato 16

Tommy Flyger threw two touchdown passes and receiver Tommy Ellingworth threw for a score and caught a TD pass for Augustana (3-0, 1-0 NCC).

Flyger was 17-for-30 for 179 yards. He threw a 10-yard TD pass to Ryan Rothenberger and connected with Ellingworth from 41 yards out. Rothenberger also scored on a 22-yard pass from Ellingworth.

Ben King completed 29 of 54 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns for the Mavericks (2-2, 0-1). Tory Chappell scored on a 23-yard pass and Dan Smedberg scored on a 5-yard toss.

Bryan Alberty caught 12 passes for 101 yards for Mankato.