Written by Austin Rush | Archived Nov. 10, 2020

Under absolute horrendous snowy and windy conditions, the University of Minnesota Duluth football team notched its third consecutive shutout tonight by defeating Bemidji State University 17-0.

UMD improves to 7-2 on the season and 5-0 in the Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference north division.

You have to go all the way back to 1934 for the last time the Bulldogs allowed zero points in three straight games. The last points given up by the Bulldog defense was in the third quarter against Minnesota State University Moorhead on October 7.

Horrid conditions or not, the Bulldog defense came to play tonight. UMD Allowed just 50 yards of total offense in the contest and caused four Beaver fumbles, three of which were recovered by the Bulldogs.

“An hour before the game we were revamping our personnel to handle the conditions and I thought our guys handled it well,” said UMD head coach Curt Wiese.”

Junior running back Anthony Wood scored both Bulldog touchdowns. Two and 16-yard scampers gave the California native touchdowns six and seven on the season. Wood finished with 104 yards on 29 carries.

Sophomore kicker Dan Branger nailed the Bulldogs final three points from 22 yards out tonight capping off a drive that started with 11:03 left in the third quarter and ended with 14:18 to go in the final quarter of play.

“On long third quarter drive- Our guys on the offensive line did a good job up front. Anthony Woods popped a big run on fourth down and we were able to flip the field position and keep,” Wiese said.

UMD’s offense wasn’t messing around either as they put 255 yards total offense. It was rush heavy game for the Bulldogs as they ran the ball 67 times for 224 yards. Red-shirt freshman quarterback John Larson completed three of his seven passing attempts for 31 yards. Larson put up 65 yards on the ground, 41 of which came on one play which set up Wood’s first touchdown.

"Our guys are playing at a high level right now," Wiese said. "We came out of the locker room with a lot of energy. Our backs are against the wall right now and if we don't keep playing like this we won't have an opportunity at a post-season run."

The Bulldogs will have a long break before they return home to Malosky Stadium on November 4 to take on the Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston.

Photo courtesy of John Swartz