COMEBACK COO! USF rallies past Duluth in the final minutes

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - The Coo picked up a nail-biting, homecoming win against Minnesota Duluth earlier today winning 34-31 and moving to 4-0 on the season. Sioux Falls entered this weekend receiving votes in the week 4 national rankings and tied for 1st in the NSIC.

“I thought our guys were able to overcome and respond really well to anything Duluth had drawn up,” said Coach Jon Anderson. “We were able to challenge them to make a play on both sides of the ball, which ultimately led us to our success. Overall, it was a big win for the Coo on homecoming!”

Thuro Reisdorfer moved into 9th for all-time rushing yards by adding 100 yards to his resume today while collecting three rushing touchdowns in the process. Landon Freeman became the 32nd member of the 1,000 yard club with 78 rushing yards today and tallied one rushing touchdown.

The Coo opened the game on the defensive side of the ball when UMD quarterback, Kyle Walljasper, ran in for a 35 yard touchdown putting the bulldogs up 7-0. Sioux Falls answered back quickly with seven plays for 74 yards and a 53 yard rushing touchdown by Landon Freeman. Wide receiver Carter Slykhuis caught his first touchdown of the year off a 46 yard pass from Adam Mullen to end the first quarter, 14-14.

Duluth continued to roll through different quarterbacks in hopes of catching USF off-guard; however, that just wasn’t the case. Reisdorfer ran for his 5th touchdown of the season to put the Coo up 20-17 while heading into the half.

Sioux Falls received the ball to start the second half which resulted in their first punt of the game. With a wild snap by the Bulldogs, Dylan Law picked up a UMD fumble on the Duluth 18 yard line sparking the offense for USF. With just two plays on the series, Reisdorfer rumbled in for a 9 yard touchdown to put the Cougars up by 10 to finish the 3rd.

UMD opened the 4th quarter with a touchdown while closing in on the Cougars lead. With a Sioux Falls fumble on the USF 40 yard line, and 7 minutes left in the game, Duluth ran the ball down the field to go up 31-27. With a loud crowd behind them, the Cougar defense stopped the Bulldogs by forcing a missed field goal just in time to work the ball down the field. Mullen completed passes to Tanner Beaton, Ethan Wittenburg and Carter Slykhuis before taking the ball himself for a 13 yard gain to the UMD 10. With a pass interference call on the Bulldogs, the Coo faced 1st and 2 on the 2 yard line when Reisdorfer collected his third touchdown on the day to put USF up 34-31 with less than a minute to go.

In “Cougar D” fashion, Amaurii Grosskopf came up with a huge sack for a loss of 6 yards to make it 4th and 18 with 32 seconds remaining in the game. While the Bulldogs went on to pick up 14 yards on their final play, quarterback Garrett Olson was stopped 4 yards short of the first down turning the ball over to the Coo. Sioux Falls went on to pick up their 4th win against Minnesota – Duluth and advance to 4-0 on the season.

The (RV) Cougars will be back in action next week as they travel across town to take on (#13) Augustana in the “Key to the City” game. Kick-off is slated for 1:00pm at Kirkeby-Over Stadium in Sioux Falls. For all things Cougar Football, be sure to follow along on the new USF Cougars app as well as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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