GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The Southern Utah football season came to a close on Saturday afternoon in Grand Forks, North Dakota, as the Thunderbirds fell to the Fighting Hawks 36-18.
With the loss the Thunderbirds finished the season at 3-9, with a 2-6 record in the Big Sky Conference.
"We've had a tough stretch on the road, and we weren't consistent enough," SUU head coach Demario Warren said. "My hats go off to those guys. The played a consistent game, took advantage of some opportunities late in that second quarter and we couldn't recover once they got that two score lead."
The Thunderbirds opened the game with a promising drive, but it concluded with a missed field goal attempt. UND quickly responded, and scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game. The home team took a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.
Southern Utah got on the board in the second quarter, following a muffed punt by the Fighting Hawks. Thomas Duckett continued his hot streak, breaking into the endzone for SUU to tie the contest up 7-7. That marked his seventh touchdown of the season.
After a Khalid Taylor interception, the T-Birds quickly added a second touchdown when Chris Helbig hit Duckett from 17 yards away. SUU ran a trick play to convert for two, and took a 15-7 lead.
On their next drive the Fighting Hawks responded with their second touchdown of the day, pulling the contest back within one.
Before the first half ran up, the Fighting Hawks added another field goal to take a 17-15 lead into the half.
The Fighting Hawks scored first in the second half, adding another field goal to increase the lead to 20-15. A few drives later the Thunderbirds would respond with a field goal of their own, as Kekoa Sasaoka knocked one in from 47 yards away to cut the UND lead to 20-18.
Unfortunately for SUU, the Fighting Hawks were able to break into the endzone on their next drive and took a 27-18 lead with just over two minutes to play in the third quarter.
From that point on, it was all UND. The Fighting Hawks were able to hold the T-Birds scoreless for the remainder of the contest and emerge victorious 36-18.
Helbig finished the game with 258 yards through the air on 24 completions. Lance Lawson grabbed seven of those passes for 67 yards. Duckett finished with 43 yards on the ground, while Karris Davis had 64.
Quaid Murray, AJ Stanley and Rodrick Ward led SUU in tackles with eight each. SUU had four tackles for loss in the contest. As a team SUU had two interceptions.
Keep tabs on the Thunderbirds all year by following @SUUFB on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Football page on Facebook.
