Excitement was in the air as the University of North Dakota Football returned to the Alerus Center for the 59th Annual Potato Bowl Saturday, Sept. 6. Coming off a strong road performance against No. 17 Kansas State in Wichita, the Fighting Hawks returned to Grand Forks with more to prove, beating the Portland State University Vikings in front of an 11,469-strong crowd 50-20.
Off the opening kick, North Dakota got straight to work, easing down the field courtesy of Isaac Fruechte’s offense. The drive culminated in a 5-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Nathan Hromodka to put the Hawks up.
The Hawks continued their tear early in the game with a fumble recovery by Grant Noland on the kickoff, putting them at the Vikings’ 17-yard line. UND picked up more rushing yards as veteran running back Xavier Leigh (5th) brought Jerry Kaminski (So.) in range to rush for a touchdown. Capping off the drive, Simon Romfo (Sr.) wheeled into the endzone for a two-point conversion, putting the Hawks up 15-0.
Halfway through the first quarter, the North Dakota defense got its chance, coming up with a successful three-and-out and forcing a 46-yard punt to the North Dakota 39-yard line.
Following the resolute barrier put up by the defense, the Hawks had yet another chance to drive toward Portland’s end zone. Xavier Leigh made a 25-yard reception to put UND within touching distance, setting Kaminski up to make a pass to Deng Deng (Rs. Fr.) which put NoDak up 22-0 after a conversion kick by CJ Elrichs (Jr.).
In the last drive of the quarter, Portland State marched down the field to bring the score closer at 22-6, after a blocked kick.
After an unsuccessful initial drive, North Dakota was forced to start the second quarter with a punt that set PSU up at their 15-yard line. Vikings quarterback John-Keawe Sagapolutele (So.) lined up and threw a pass intercepted by Jy Martin (Sr.) at the UND 41.
Following the interception, the Fighting Hawks moved swiftly, setting up another Hromodka (Fr.) receiving touchdown to put them up 29-6.
After yet another three-and-out stop by the defense, North Dakota started to run into some opposition from PSU, having to settle for a field goal attempt from 43 yards, which CJ Elrich was unable to turn into three points.
Not to be forgotten, the UND defense came out swinging, with Avery Scott (Sr.) making a huge run after intercepting a pass from Sagapolutele to put the Hawks back on offense again. Kaminski finished off the drive with a handoff to Gaven Ziebarth (Sr.) to make the score 36-6.
Another unsuccessful drive for each team ended the first half of the game, with the Hawks maintaining an enormous presence on both defense and offense.
Coming out after halftime, PSU received the kick and UND forced a turnover on downs. The Hawks made the most of the turnover after a rocky drive, compliments of a completion to Tray Kuntz (Rs. Fr.) and a kick by CJ Elrichs.
To narrow the deficit, the Vikings went on an 80-yard drive, coming up with a touchdown off a run by Delon Thompson (So.) and an extra point converted by Mathias Uribe (Sr.).
As UND resumed activities on offense, Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson (So.) saw his first action as a Fighting Hawk. Making a 27-yard rush and tacking on a rushing touchdown was as good an introduction as any, with a kick by CJ Elrichs making the score 50-13.
After another successful stop by the defense for a turnover on downs, Tupou’ata-Johnson had the ball knocked out of his hands, resulting in a fumble recovery and a 70-yard touchdown run by Jaxton Helmstetler (Jr.) to make the score 50-20.
With no scoring left to be done and an easy win in their back pocket, North Dakota moved up to 16th in the national poll, with a record of 1-1 and an overall Potato Bowl record of 47-12.
Next up for the Fighting Hawks are the Montana Grizzlies—ranked fifth—in Missoula on Saturday (9/13). With an overall record of 2-7 in Missoula, Head Coach Eric Schmidt and his staff have more to prove in an exciting, ranked showdown.
Anthony Dillett is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
