Offense piles up yards, points against Concordia as Northern State wins third straight

The final score might not have reflected it, but Saturday was not a “typical day at the office” for the Northern State University football team.

The Wolves picked up their fifth win of the year, 49-20 over winless Concordia-St. Paul, improving to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

“I told the guys downstairs it’s a good thing when you walk away winning a game 49-20 and you think, ‘OK, we have a lot to work on,” said Northern head coach Mike Schmidt. “I think that keeps us hungry for this next stretch of three games, which we know we’ll have to win if we want to win the North Division.”

Northern opened the scoring on its third drive of the game. Will Madler, who had missed on two down-the-field attempts during the Wolves opening drive, hit Ben Noland in stride for a 42-yard score and a 7-0 lead.

Onside kick recovery helps Wolves build early lead

Schmidt then delved into his bag of tricks and went with an onside kick. Kicker Payton Eue made the recovery.

On the ensuing possession, Dominick Fiscelli made one move to get by Rhett Sheehan on what turned into a 50-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Bonds.

“The surprise onside was a no-brainer,” Schmidt said, “I mean there was no doubt we weren’t going to get, it wasn’t even close. We got a big bounce on Eue’s kick, which usually isn’t good, but (Concordia) was so far away (Eue) could have fair-caught it. We just saw it on tape and knew it would be there after our first score, and we really liked that call in that spot.”

Madler would toss his second touchdown when he hit Isaiah Cherrier in stride down the left sideline for a 78-yard pitch and catch to make it a 14-7 Northern advantage. Touchdown toss No. 3 for Madler and four for the Wolves came with 2:48 to go in the second quarter when Madler hit Greg Lux for a 20-yard touchdown and a 28-7 lead.

Madler finished the game with 403 passing yards and five scores. He completed 20 of 38 passes. It was his best showing of the season.

A late second-quarter score on a 12-play, 78-yard drive made it a 28-13 deficit for the Golden Bears at the break.

Opening drives of second half prove to be important

The Wolves were pinned at their own two-yard line early in the third quarter and drove the ball 62 yards on 11 plays, however the drive ended when Madler was picked off by Sheehan. Concordia would then drive the ball to the Northern two-yard line, but that drive came to an end via a Trevor Johnson interception in the end zone on fourth and goal. As a result, the Wolves took over on their 20-yard line.

“We’ve done that a lot this year – coming up with interceptions, forcing turnovers in the red zone – and that’s what we talk about. Never giving up because we feel we always have a shot to get a turnover, and I thought that look was really good to come up with that stop," Schmidt said.

“I think coming into (Saturday) we had a few looks that we really liked,” Madler said. “(Concordia) was giving us some things that allowed our receivers to get open, and our receivers have some speed out there. You can’t complain as a quarterback when you have guys like we do to throw to, and there are even some guys that didn’t make any catches making blocks and doing things that don’t get in the stat line but help us win.”

Three plays after Johnson’s pick, Madler connected with Fiscelli again, this time on an 80-yard touchdown on third and 10, putting the Wolves up 35-13.

Fiscelli finished the game with four catches for 157 yards and two scores.

“To me, if I see space, I’m going,” Fiscelli said. “I saw (Madler) rolling right and from there it’s the scramble drill. I came across the field and saw him see me. I’d seen the safety, and that he gave me a little space to settle in, and Will got the ball to me and from there I went up field, saw more space and ran with it.”

Madler’s scramble and throw across his body looked impressive, but Schmidt, while happy with the result, said it wasn't exactly a perfect play.

“I would say on that play, ill-advised,” Schmidt said, grinning. “We’ll get away with it one time, and we did tonight, you know. It’s risk and reward right there, and sometimes you come up with big plays and we did.”

Schmidt upped the ante on his team’s next drive. A double reverse toss-back to Madler, who hit Max Otto in the end zone, was good for a 37-yard score.

“Again, another no-brainer for us,” Schmidt said. “It was a look we knew we had and would work. Will had a great game, what Dom did was spectacular. It was a really special day on offense, and that’s what we were looking to have, and it was a little more important (Saturday) that our offense had the day it had.”

Northern racks up 650-plus yards of offense

All told, the Wolves rushed the ball 27 times for 197 yards and gained 469 total yards through the air for a total of 662 yards. Schmidt lauded praise on his offensive coordinator Ryan Schlichte, who had “extra motivation” behind those big numbers.

“Boy, 662 total yards of offense is pretty spectacular, no doubt,” Schmidt said. “I made a deal with Coach Schlicte that if he has 700 total yards, I’d buy him a new pair of boots at the Hitch'n Post. He came close, just a handful of yards short, so he’s probably going to nitpick some of that film where we could have found 38 more yards.”

Concordia's offensive success was an anomy

The Wolves entered the contest with the NSIC’s top-ranked defense, allowing a paltry average of 58 yards per game on the ground, which ranks them second in the nation. There was a slight glitch Saturday as Concordia ran the ball for 151 yards and gained a total of 511 yards.

“We know our identity defensively,” Schmidt said. “We feel really awesome about our identity, we really do. It was just tonight things kind of got loose on us. We really like where we at with that group, it was a lot of broken plays where (Concordia quarterback Connor Cordts) was able to break away and make some plays, and a couple misses (on tacklers) led to a couple big runs. This is what we live for. There are no adjustments (defensively) for us. We’re just going to get back at it.”

Northern State returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Minnesota State, Moorhead. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Northern State defeats Concordia, St. Paul in college football