By Brian Brashaw
Quarterback Brian Masek threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns and was still outdone.
St. Cloud State quarterback Keith Heckendor threw for 369 yards and four scores as the Huskies pounded UNO 47-19 Saturday in a North Central Conference scrum.
St. Cloud totaled 686 total offensive yards, the most the UNO defense has given up this year. Along with Heckendor’s tally, runningback Mark Birkel ran for 236 yards.
St. Cloud has only allowed two 100-yard rushers, and wasn’t about to allow UNO to be the third. UNO only managed 57 total yards rushing.
James E. Johnson managed just 28 yards rushing and Masek had 20.
The Mavericks stated the scoring with a 20-yard passing play to Andy Damkroger. St. Cloud then scored two touchdowns and a field goal to gain a 16-6 lead. The Huskies fumbled the opening kickoff, which set up the short drive.
Ryan Krause then hauled in a 35-yard score, putting UNO down three points. It would be the last sniff of victory the Mavericks would see.
St. Cloud then scored another touchdown and a field goal to take a 26-13 halftime lead.
The Huskies opened the second half with a 77-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Koch, which all but put the game out of reach.
Ryan Krause scored again, but the Huskies piled on ten more points to take the win 47-19.
Nick Pearson led all defenders in scoring with 14 total tackles and UNO’s Taiwo Onatolu came in with 13 tackles.
UNO fell to 4-5 on the year and 3-3 in the North Central Conference. St. Cloud State remained second in the NCC, with a 5-2 conference mark, 7-2 overall.
The Mavericks will host their last two NCC games next week against North Dakota State and Augustana.
