History-making music group for UMM - morris mn

History-making music group for UMM - morris mn
The UMM men's chorus opened the Minnesota Day program at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition).

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Cougars on a roll for 2012 season (home) finale

Leandro Dower, junior runningback from North High School, Minneapolis, charges forward in this file photo. Dower rushed for a career-best 153 yards in the win over Presentation. (B.W. photo)
 
Come on out to Big Cat Stadium this Saturday, 11/3, to enjoy the final game of the 2012 University of Minnesota-Morris football season. Kickoff time is 1 p.m. for this contest vs. St. Scholastica.
The Cougars definitely enter this game with a feeling of momentum. It is a pleasure to review three straight wins in this post. Most recently the success was on the road, in Roseville vs. Crown. It was a thriller that went into overtime. One point made the difference at the end.
 
Cougars 30, Crown 29
This was UMM's fifth UMAC triumph of the season. It was anything but easy or routine to achieve. The Cougars found themselves 14 points down as late as the fourth quarter!
The scoreboard revealed a grim situation for our maroon crew with 7:16 remaining. The score: 23-9. It looked like Crown would get the crown of victory. But UMM took on a stubborn and resolved stance.
It was a day for UMM to lean very heavily on its passing attack. There were 61 total pass attempts flung by the Cougars. The yards gained via this attack: 327. Brendon Foss was all over the field getting open for receptions. His reception total was 14, for 150 yards and a touchdown. He's a former Hancock Owl. UMM's rushing yardage was a season low 38.
The Crown "Storm" began the day's scoring, striking with a 56-yard run that had Amos Schmidt clutching the football. The PAT try failed. The Storm surged forward again when Wes Stafford reached the end zone on a run from the one. The Cougars found themselves down 13-0.
Dalton DeGraffenreid scored UMM's first touchdown. He caught an eight-yard scoring pass from Derrick Foss (also from Hancock). The PAT try failed. DeGraffenreid built his season total of touchdown catches to seven. Cameron Adel kicked a 22-yard field goal for UMM to make the score 13-9 with 1:39 left in the first half. Crown had a kicker capable of kicking the ball straight and true too. This individual, Kurt Fickle, found the middle of the uprights from 24 yards out in the fourth quarter. His success made the score 16-9.
UMM sank further into a hole due to a pass interception. Crown's Sebastian Alvar performed this pickoff and it led to a score, so UMM finds itself looking at a worrisome scoreboard deficit. The score: 23-9. The Cougars had to go to work.
The Foss boys showed their chemistry. Derrick hit Brendon for a three-yard touchdown strike. Leandro Dower took a handoff with 1:45 left and scored from the one. Adel hit the PAT so now the score is tied at 23-all. The coin toss went UMM's way for overtime. But the Cougars chose defense. Amos Schmidt gave Crown the lead at 29-23, but a key missed conversion attempt followed. Crown was then hurt by not one but two pass interference calls. These set up Dower for his one-yard touchdown run, creating a tie and giving Adel a chance to win the game with his toe. He did!
The Cougars could celebrate this 30-29 overtime triumph.
For receiver Brendon Foss, it was his fourth game of the season with 100-plus receiving yards. It was his third game with 150-plus.
 
Cougars 35, Presentation 28
Big Cat Stadium was the site for UMM's thrilling 35-28 win over the Saints of Presentation (Aberdeen, SD) on October 20.
Presentation asserted itself first. This was with a quite time-consuming drive (eight minutes) that ended with a touchdown. The Cougars answered promptly and in a lightning-strike way. Leandro Dower took a handoff, found daylight and covered 70 yards en route for six. He clearly demonstrated he's a speed merchant. Fans didn't have to wait long to see scoring catches by Brendon Foss and Danny Kernan. Foss hauled in a 44-yard pass from Dan Garrigan. This big play immediately followed a fumble recovery. Kernan made his scoring catch that went into the books as a 14-yarder.
The first quarter ended with the home team in quite good shape, up 21-7. Fans had just watched UMM score 21 points in a span of just 3:40.
The Cougars couldn't sustain this momentum in the second quarter. The Saints instead seized the momentum for a while. The Saints scored 14 points using methodical drives, creating a deadlocked score for halftime: 21-all. Brendon Foss re-gained the lead for UMM with a touchdown catch. But the Saints were able to answer, so the final quarter began with the score tied again at 28-all. In the fourth, Dower broke loose for another touchdown to create the final score of 35-28. Dower's decisive score capped a drive of eleven plays and 80 yards, eating up over five minutes. Presentation had a last-gasp drive stopped on fourth and two at the UMM 31. They might have gotten the ball back were it not for a nifty first down run that had Dustin Spohn carrying the ball.
Dower could celebrate a 100-plus rushing yards day (153 total, a career-best). Brendon Foss had two scoring catches and 181 total receiving yards on ten total catches. Cody Hickman was a cog on defense with his 12 tackles. Cody had a sack, 1 1/2 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. Zeke Miller forced a fumble and Terrence Chasten-Davis recovered a fumble.
 
Cougars 27, Eureka 23
I wondered in my last post re. Cougar football whether the squad would be saying "Eureka!" after their October 13 game in Eureka, Illinois. Indeed they could have! The Cougars put together a skein of 20 unanswered points and won 27-23. Their defense applied the clamps and allowed just 37 yards rushing. They sacked Eureka's Sam Durley four times.
Eureka managed to score the game's first touchdown which came on a one-yard run. They're called the "Red Devils."
Dustin Spohn broke loose for UMM and scored but the PAT failed. So UMM is down 7-6. The passing game netted UMM's second score. This came with seven minutes left in the first half. Quarterback Dan Garrigan connected with Danny Kernan on a 40-yarder. The two-point conversion try was no-go, so UMM has a 12-7 lead. UMM's fortunes improved as Garrigan hit Dalton DeGraffenreid on a seven-yard scoring pass, so now the score is 20-7 and the Eureka crowd is rendered quiet. This was freshman DeGraffenreid's sixth scoring catch of the season.
Eureka connected for a field goal from 33 yards out, making the score 20-10 as halftime neared. But enough time remained for UMM to strike again, and this happened with Garrigan passing 23 yards to Kernan making the score 27-10.
Eureka had fight left in them. They used the aerial attack and with considerable success. Cody Followell made two touchdown catches for Eureka in the final quarter. Eureka tried an onside kick, unsuccessfully, with 2:10 left and UMM was in the position of striving to run out the clock. Key in this effort was a 27-yard pass to Kernan.
Garrigan finished this game eleven of 17 passing for 175 yards and three touchdowns. Dower rushed for 92 yards on 24 carries. Kernan's catch total was five and he gained 125 yards.
I invite you to click on the permalink below to read about the Cougars' games 4 through 6 of the 2012 season:
 
And, you may click on the permalink below to read about the Cougars' first three games of 2012. Thanks for reading. - B.W.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

No comments:

Post a Comment