CEDAR CITY, Utah - Oct. 25 - After SUU was forced to punt on their first drive of the game the SUU defense held strong, stopping UND on a fourth down attempt and taking the ball over. The Thunderbirds then went on an impressive drive to score the first points of the game as Ammon Olsen found Naia Ursua in the end zone. After a sack by Kouri Jones forced starting quarterback Joe Mollberg out of the game, backup quarterback Ryan Bartles came in and drove UND down the field for a field goal, making the score 7-3 Thunderbirds at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started the same way as the first, as SUU is forced to punt but the defense held UND on afourth down to take over. SUU needed just 35 seconds to score another touchdown as Ammon Olsen scampered into the end zone to push the score to 14-3. After the defense forced another punt from UND, the Thunderbirds put together an impressive
drive, converting two third downs, culminating in an Ammon Olsen pass to Mitch Jessop, and making the score, 21-3. The first half would end with both teams exchanging punts.
SUU received the kick to start the second half and drove the ball to the UND 16 before failing on a fourth down conversion and giving the ball back to UND. North Dakota followed the failed conversion with a nine play 84-yard drive that brought them back to 21-10. UND forced another Thunderbird punt and then drove the ball down to the SUU one yard line to end the third quarter.
The fourth quarter started with a bang as SUU was called for two personal foul penalties that helped get North Dakota into the end zone, making the score 21-17, SUU still leading. SUU was again forced to punt but an interception by Chinedu Ahanonu setup an Ammon Olsen to Mike Sharp 37-yard touchdown. After forcing a UND punt, the Thunderbirds only needed one play, a touchdown pass from Ammon Olsen to Raysean Pringle for 87 yards to extend the lead, 35-17. The Thunderbirds would hold strong on a fourth down conversion try by UND that would all but seal the victory for SUU.
Turning Point:
After being held scoreless in the third quarter, the Thunderbirds came up with two big plays to extend their lead to three scores and put the game away. An interception by Chinedu Ahanonu that led to a touchdown and an 87-yard touchdown reception by Raysean Pringle.
Win-Loss:
With the win the Thunderbirds move to 2-7 overall and 2-3 in Big Sky Conference. SUU also takes the overall series lead with UND at 4-3.
Top Performers:
Ammon Olsen: 23-25 for 325 yards and 5 TD (1 rushing)
Malik Brown: 8 attempts, 45 yards, long of 23
Mike Sharp: 4 catches, 84 yards, 1 TD
Raysean Pringle: 2 catches, 96 yards, 1 TD, 120 all-purpose yards
Tate Lewis: 6 punts, 284 yards, 47.3 Average
Chinedu Ahanonu: 12 total tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF, 1 INT
Kouri Jones: 5 total tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL
Kyle Hannemann: 1 INT
Quotes:
Ammon Olsen
“You know I think the run game is the most important thing in an offense. We had some third-and-longs that we were able to hand it off and get first downs, we had several of those. As an offense that's the best thing, because then the defense thinks you're going to run it and you can play-action.”
Ed Lamb
“I credit North Dakota all the way for third down conversions in the third quarter. I think they had three during their scoring drive.”
“Ammon did a great job today with decisions. 21-of-23 doesn't happen with that kind of stiff wind unless you are making great decisions and the coaches are taking care of things by being conservative when needed and aggressive when needed.”
“The value of the win is confidence for guys on defense, a little bit of a carryover, to be able to carryover certain things that we did. That's hard when you are losing, there is a feel that you need change. To have some consistency, get into the next game plan, get creative, have a small amount of change but be aggressive but have some confidence on offense, defense and special teams makes all the difference in the world.”
“There were more runs in practice, there was more emphasis and coaching in practice and in the game the for the coaches to call some of those run plays in the situations that they did. Third-and-nine third-and-eleven and we ripped off some first down runs.”
