#13 Vikings suffer setback at #24 Minnesota-Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. (Augustana Athletics)- The No. 13/16 Augustana football team (1-1, 0-1 NSIC) opened its NSIC schedule with a 30-23 loss to No. 24/19 Minnesota Duluth (1-1, 1-0 NSIC) on Thursday night at James S. Malosky Stadium.

was 24 of 41 passing for 319 yards and a touchdown while throwing an interception.

added six catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.

The defense recorded four sacks and a pass breakup while

scored 11 points while making all three field goals.

The Vikings started with the ball and marched down the field to open the scoring. Completions of 11 to

set the Vikings up near midfield. Blonde picked up a 13-yard first down run before a 13-yard strike and nine-yard touchdown pass from Hensley to Sattler gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead.

After the Bulldogs moved 27 yards down the field on their opening drive

picked up a crucial sack on third down to force a punt that

returned 32 yards to set the offense up at the AU 43. On the next play, Blount got the edge and went 57 yards for a touchdown to double the AU lead at 14-0 with 6:23 to play in the first quarter.

That score would hold until the second quarter when the Viking defense stopped the Bulldog offense and forced a 27-yard field goal to make it 14-3 AU with 13:00 left in the half. The Viking offense got to the UMD43 before a punt that resulted in a touchback. 10 plays and 8:20 of game clock later, the Bulldogs cashed in for a touchdown to pull within 14-10 at the 2:50 mark of the second quarter.

The offense pushed up the field in just three plays as Blount ran for six yards and five yards before a 49-yard pass from Hensley to

put the Vikings inside the UMD25 with just under two minutes to go. The UMD defense stood tall from there, forcing a 43-yard field goal from

that put the Vikings in front 17-10 at the half.

Hensley finished the first half 13 of 18 passing for 151 yards, a touchdown and an interception while Blount finished with 95 yards on the ground and a touchdown on 11 carries. The defense saw their second-half success against MWSU carry into the first half, led by a pair of sacks and six

tackles to hold the Bulldogs to 10 points.

In the opening drive of the second half, the Bulldogs needed just six plays to get to the AU5. On first and goal, the defense made the biggest play of the night up to that point. On an option play

pounced on a mishandled ball to force a fumble and sent the offense back to work.

From there, neither offense could get much going until the Bulldogs cashed in on a tush push with 14:08 to play. They would miss the extra point, keeping AU in front 17-16. The Vikings went 13 plays for 70 yards on the ensuing possession, ending with a 24-yard field goal off the foot of Pecina to make it 20-16 AU with 9:56 to play.

UMD followed it up with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that resulted in a blocked extra point, keeping their lead just just two at 22-20 with 6:48 to go. Hensley would go on to engineer a 42-yard drive to counter, ending in a 40-yard Pecina field goal to reclaim the lead at 23-22 with 3:34 left.

After a four-yard UMD rush opened their next drive, a nearly two-hour lightning delay paused the game. The Bulldogs would go down and score a touchdown after the delay was over and the final Viking drive ended with an incompletion in the end zone.

The Vikings open their home slate on Sept. 12, hosting Minot State at 1 p.m., at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.