The green and gold piled into the Superior Dome Thursday evening on a mission to thwart a strong Minnesota State University Moorhead team, coming off a 6-5 record the previous season. With the Wildcats’ poor performance in recent seasons, the question was if they could actually bounce back and start to win some football games after some hopeful recruiting and development in the offseason.
The answer? Well, how about shooting up to a 21-0 unanswered lead in the first 18 minutes? That’s right, NMU amassed more points in a little over a quarter than eight separate games they played last season.
It was sophomore Jahi Wood that opened the scoring for the Cats with a seamless 19-yard stroll into the end zone just seven minutes into the game. He was followed up immediately by some Jax Hertel heroics, as the junior would read MSUM’s athlete of the year, Jack Strand, like a foundations textbook. He picked off Strand’s pass and brought it back for another six for the green and gold. The Dragons would start to drive down the field before the NMU defense would lock them up, pushing them to a fourth down that they believed they could convert – that was until Hertel and the run defense swallowed it up.
The Cats were purring in the second quarter as they regained the ball on offense, letting Wood handle the rock, parading his team down the field before the redshirt freshman quarterback, Duke Shovald, would air one out to sophomore Jake Heemstra, for a cool 9-yard touchdown. Moorhead would respond with their air raid. Jack Strand continued to pressure NMU with his dime-piece passes and scored his team’s first points of the game with a simple toss to Madden Thorsen in the end zone. NMU, trying to hold onto their scorching momentum, would look to respond, but tragedy struck – a fumble on the very first play of offense. Moorhead would snag it up and march down an easier field to bring the game within one score, 21-15. The Cats responded quickly with sophomore, Nico Lukkarinen, limbo-ing for a 1-yard touchdown, making it 27-15 at the end of the half.
The fumble would mark the turning point of the game. From starting off with such flair and poise, the stadium was buzzing with anticipation to see what this new Wildcat team could do. However, as much as any fan didn’t want to believe it, the Cats were struggling to dig their paws into the fleeting momentum – and head coach Shane Richardson agreed.
“We just didn’t handle the momentum change well. You could feel us start to slip in the second quarter I thought. I think we carried that into the halftime with us, and we didn’t really respond or change it coming out in the third quarter,” Richardson said.
NMU would fumble again, setting up the Dragons for another easy score – 27-22. All of a sudden, it was a one-possession game. The home team would try to push again, notably with a Noah Dobert display of acrobatics with a one-handed snag, but it wouldn’t be enough as the ball would be fumbled away for a staggering third time that evening. MSUM would score again, with Jack Strand lighting up the air – and kept their momentum as they closed the Cats out at the dome, 44-37.
“I don’t see any type of discouragement or drop-off in our guys. From the last two years we had some immature minds and spirits… now, we’ve got more resiliency to us that allows us to push forward in a consistent way,” Richardson said.
Despite the loss, the football program has sparked some long-awaited spirit as they head into week two, and Richardson believes the cat pack remains unfazed and prepared for the upcoming bout against the Northwood Timberwolves.
