After an amazing win last Thursday against Concordia St. Paul, the Winona State Warriors played Minnesota State University – Moorhead (MSU-M) for their first away game of the year.
The Warriors continued an undefeated start to the 2021 season as they won 27-13 after a tough first half.
Graduate student and third-year running back, Javian Roebuck, reflected on last week as they prepared for their game against MSU-M.
“I feel like the team showed that they can put up points. They did that last week,” Roebuck said. “Defense is pretty good; it just comes down to us playing as a team and doing everything right on our end.”
While it took a bit to get everything flowing, the team truly proved they can come together and show out.
The Warriors started off slow, but their great defense only allowed the Moorhead Dragons to score once before halftime. Contributing to the defensive side of the Warriors was Clay Schueffner, a second-year linebacker.
After last week’s match up against the Golden Bears, Schueffner earned Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week with a strong performance in the season opener.
While offense had a rough start, the defense worked hard to keep Moorhead from scoring. Second-year linebacker Mitch Snitker had eight tackles in the first thirty minutes while NSIC South Preseason Player of the Year and fifth-year student Cam Gavin also assisted the defense with seven tackles.
Offensively, fifth-year wide receiver Jake Balliu led the first half with four catches for 38 yards while quarterback Owen Burke ended the first half 10 for 20 for 91 yards.
Six minutes into the second quarter, the Moorhead Dragon’s first-year quarterback Tommy Falk scored a touchdown with a kick from another first-year quarterback, Garret Meehl. Trent Marquart made the team’s second touchdown with a pass from Falk. However, the team missed the field goal, only adding on six points. Luckily, that would be the only seven points the Dragons would get against the Warriors on Saturday.
The Warriors shined in the fourth quarter as first-year Jacob Scott made an impressive 24-yard field goal. Along with Scott, Tyler Zirpoli had his first touchdown of his collegiate career.
“It took us some time to start creating some successful drives,” Zirpoli said of the second half of the game. “But once we did, we began to take control in the fourth quarter.”
The hot streak continued two minutes after Scott’s field goal when Burke delivered a 70-yard pass to second-year Sawyer Maly to whip up the first touchdown of the game.
Burke continued Saturday’s game as a true captain, distributing his skills among the receivers so much that nine different players caught at least one pass, including Zirpoli’s first touchdown.
A few highlights include linebacker Schueffner and defensive back Snitker both finishing with eleven tackles while Gavin had ten stops and David Munson had eight.
“There’s a lot of talent in that group,” Roebuck said.“They all have potential.”
Roebuck had a touchdown in the fourth quarter before Jacob Scott finished the game with a field goal, securing a second Warrior win in a row to start out the 2021 season.
“We’re just trying to be 1-0 every week,” Roebuck said, “That’s the key: to just keeping the train rolling.”
The Winona State Warrior’s kickoff against the University of Minnesota – Duluth Bulldogs at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18 at Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium.