Golden Bears top Marauders in double OT
Even when dealing with gale-force winds, there are only so many mistakes you can make before it costs you a game in college football.
The University of Mary found out the exact number on Saturday at the Bowl, with Sofian Massoud throwing a game-ending interception in the second overtime to hand the visiting Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears a 19-13 win.
"We're disappointed, this is a hard loss," Mary head coach Shann Schillinger said. "There's a million plays in that game you wish you could have back, and I'm sure they're saying the same, but credit to them, they made one more play than we did."
Dealing with winds that gusted as high as 50 miles an hour and usually sustained around 30, attempting an offense towards the northwest open end of the field was a fool's errand for much of the day.
That meant whichever team controlled the southeast closed end offensively would have the better of the opportunities, and all 32 points scored on the day came on drives that were pointed in the direction of the southeast end zone.
"Crazy, crazy day, when you're going into that win, you're not even focused on scoring, you're focused on eating clock," Schillinger said. "We had one good drive where we ate some clock and they had two or three where they did."
Concordia-St. Paul struck first and last in regulation, with kicker Jeff Isotalo-McGuire nailing a 60-yard field goal with 11:17 to go in the first quarter and Jaylin Richardson running in from 11 yards out for a touchdown.
U-Mary kicker Kevin Powell sent the game into halftime tied 3-3 with a 25-yard field goal, and the Marauders took their first lead on a four-yard touchdown pass from Massoud to Karsyn Jablonski with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
"Kevin did a nice job today, he was put in some tough situations with both punting and kicking," Schillinger said. "It was hard to throw today, and it's not easy to throw even when you have the wind. Karsyn had a great touchdown catch in the end zone."
Missed field goals played a huge role in the game going to overtime.
Shortly after taking the lead, U-Mary recovered a Concordia fumble and got inside the Golden Bears' 10-yard line on the return, but had their field goal to take a 13-3 lead blocked.
Isotalo-McGuire had two separate field goal opportunities after CSP's game-tying touchdown in the fourth and shanked both of them, keeping U-Mary's hopes alive.
"It would have been nice to get a touchdown when we had the ball inside the five, but we didn't," Schillinger said of the drive that led to the field goal block. "When you play in days like this in North Dakota, you have to be able to run the ball, and we can't do it right now.
"Those were big misses, they sent him out for the 60-yarder, and credit to him, he knocked it through. It wasn't ideal conditions kicking even with the wind, and you don't want to put guys in those situations unless you have to."
Fumbles kept U-Mary in the game. The Golden Bears coughed up the ball five times and U-Mary recovered three of them, including the fumble that set up their blocked field goal attempt.
Mary also turned the Golden Bears over on downs three times, every time with CSP playing into the wind.
"Those turnovers were big plays in the game, and our defense has done a nice job all year attacking the football and playing hard," Schillinger said. "We have more speed on defense than we did a year ago, and when you have more speed, you create more turnovers."
The Marauders were lucky to hold onto the ball in the first overtime, fumbling - and then recovering - twice. They turned the first fumble into a seven-yard run by Jeremiah Moore and the second, which came on third down, into a four-yard loss by Massoud.
With their drive stalled out, Powell kicked Mary into a 13-10 lead, sending U-Mary's defense out onto the field.
Both teams had a chance to end CSP's drive in the first overtime, as a game-winning touchdown pass went in and out of the hands of a Golden Bears wide receiver and the next play saw U-Mary defender Abram Jopp drop an interception that hit him in both hands.
The Golden Bears breathed a sigh of relief and sent Isotalo-McGuire back onto the field, and he tied the game with another short field goal.
"Kids are trying to make plays, it wasn't about a lack of effort," Schillinger said. "There were a lot of opportunities that could have changed the game. They had a dropped pass in the end zone that would have ended it. We would have loved to have that potential interception back, but it is what it is, we have to learn from it."
Concordia took the ball first in the second overtime and scored on just two plays, with Richardson running twice and scoring on a seven-yard run on first and goal. CSP went for the two-point conversion and failed, giving Mary the opportunity to win the game yet again.
Mary's opening play of the second overtime, a screen pass to Jaxon Young, seemed doomed to lose yardage, but Young handed the ball off as he was being tackled to teammate Mujeeb Rufai, and he was finally knocked down at the CSP 5-yard line.
After one incomplete pass and another that lost two yards, Massoud threw a pass over the middle that was tipped into the air and then caught by the same Golden Bears defender that tipped it, ending the game.
"The interception in overtime, we had a guy open, but their guy made a play," Schillinger said. "We got to get some guys back, health-wise, and we have to run better. If we do that, we'll be fine. There's no panic, we're taking strides."
Concordia-St. Paul finished with 20 first downs to U-Mary's nine. The Marauders were outgained 349-145, including a 247-43 advantage for CSP on the ground.
CSP was 5-of-12 on third down, Mary was 6-of-17. Mary failed to convert their only fourth down attempt and the Golden Bears were 1-of-4 on fourth down.
UP NEXT
U-Mary heads to Minnesota to play Winona State next Saturday at 2 p.m.
