Wayne State 33 Mary 28
Frederick Bruno hauled in a 34-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Evan Johnson with 45 seconds remaining to give Wayne State College a dramatic 33-28 win at the University of Mary in Northern Sun Conference football played Saturday afternoon in Bismarck, North Dakota. The win moves Wayne State to 5-1 on the season and 4-1 in the NSIC while the Marauders drop to 1-5 and 1-4 in league play.
After a scoreless first quarter, Wayne State got on the board early in the second quarter as redshirt freshman Nick Bell booted a 19 yard field goal after Mary held WSC inside the five yard line to give WSC a 3-0 advantage with 10:47 to play in the second quarter. Mary responded on the ensuing drive as quarterback Craig Bagnell found Tyler Steffan on a 65-yard scoring strike, putting the Marauders in front 7-3 with 7:24 left in the first half. The next drive saw Wayne State move the ball 69 yards on 11 plays to the Mary 11 yard line, but the drive would stall as WSC had to settle for a Nick Bell 28 yard field goal with 2:39 to play in the second quarter to make the score 7-6 in favor of Mary at halftime.
Mary got the ball to start the second half and fullback Bo Cole broke loose for a 31 yard touchdown run, giving the Marauders a 14-6 lead at the 12:48 mark of the third quarter. The Wildcats wasted little time to respond to Mary's opening score as Frederick Bruno hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass from Evan Johnson. The score on the eight play, 74 yard drive cut the Mary lead to 14-13 with 10:24 left in the third quarter. After forcing a Mary punt, Wayne State got the ball back and scored on its next drive as the Wildcats needed just 2:16 to find the end zone as Johnson found Chris Schultz on a slant route and Schultz rambled 30 yards for the score, capping a 79 yard drive on seven plays, that gave Wayne State a 20-14 advantage with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Wayne State scored on its third straight possession as Johnson hooked up with Mitch Montgomery on a 51-yard scoring pass, putting the Wildcats in front 27-14 with 14:50 left in the game. Mary mounted a fourth quarter rally, starting with a five yard run by Jamal Lomax that culminated a seven play, 70 yard drive, cutting the Wildcat lead to 27-21 with 11:04 to play. Later in the quarter, the Marauders put together a time consuming drive from their own 20 yard line and moved the ball inside the Wildcat 10 yard line with under two minutes remaining. On fourth and goal from the Wildcat four yard line, Marauder quarterback Craig Bagnell scored on a four yard run giving Mary a 28-27 lead with 1:46 to go.
Following a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, WSC received the ball on their own 20 yard line and sophomore quarterback Evan Johnson engineered a textbook two-minute drive for the Wildcats. He found Pierce sophomore wide receiver Kevin Paulsen on four straight passes of 17, 5, 14 and 10 yards that put the ball on the Marauder 34 yard line. On the next play, Johnson found Frederick Bruno, who broke several tackles and broke loose down the sideline for a 34-yard scoring play giving Wayne State the lead. A two-point pass conversion failed, giving WSC a 33-28 lead with 45 seconds left.
Starting at their own 26 yard line, Mary quarterback Craig Bagnell rushed for 19 yards to put the ball at the Mary 45 yard line. Following an incomplete pass, Bagnell was sacked by Wayne State's Richard Daniel, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Wildcat linebacker Kyle Bertelsen at the Mary 39 yard line, to give WSC the win.
Wayne State finished the game with 483 yards of total offense to 398 for Mary. Sophomore quarterback Evan Johnson threw for 387 yards, completing 28 of 37 passes with four touchdowns. Kevin Paulsen was the top receiver for WSC with 10 grabs for 119 yards followed by Frederick Bruno with six catches for 62 yards and two scores. Mitch Montgomery added four receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown. Johnson was the top rusher for WSC with 35 yards on 17 carries. Defensively, Cole Fischer had eight tackles for Wayne State while junior defensive end Richard Daniel added six tackles and two sacks. Sophomore linebacker Ben Perry added six tackles and one interception.
WSC was penalized 11 times for 88 yards compared to just four markers against Mary for 35 yards. The Wildcats had one turnover while forcing Mary into three turnovers in the game.
Wayne State returns home next weekend for a Northern Sun Conference matchup against Concordia-St. Paul in a 1:00 p.m. contest at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne.
