UND freshman John Sntigo rushing the ball during this weekend’s win over UC Davis. Photo by Nick Nelson/ The Dakota Student

True freshman John Santiago and captain Will Ratelle lead the Green and White over UC Davis

Maturing teams know one loss does not determine an entire season, and its not about the cards you are dealt, it is about how you react to them.

The Green and White came home after a rough loss to NDSU the previous week and was looking to rebound against UC Davis. What resulted was UND’s best offensive performance of the season and a much-needed win over the Aggies, 31-24.

On the offensive side of the ball, John Santiago tallied his second 100+ yard rushing game of his career, with a final stat line of 19 carries, 152 yards, a career high, and two touchdowns.

Defensively, captain Will Ratelle was an absolute animal. The linebacker accounted for 15 tackles with four of them going for a loss of yards. As the game progressed it seemed like No. 51 was a part of every defensive play.

“This was a nice way to start Big Sky Conference play,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “I thought we got contributions from a lot of different players and came up with some big plays in all facets of the game when we needed them.”

The offense got things rolling on Saturday. The Green and White exploded out of the gate, running true freshman John Santiago into the teeth of the UC Davis defensive line. Santiago would start off his resurgence with a two-yard score. Once UND went up 7-0, it would never trail the rest of the game.

After a interception by Dion Harris, Studsrud would lead the offense again and throw a touch pass where only captain tight end Zach Adler could catch it. Just like that UND was up 14-0 and in control of the game.

While UC Davis was 0-3 coming into Saturday’s game, the Aggies knew how to keep things competitive. The Aggies surged back, scoring 10 unanswered points against UND and threatening to score more. On a UND punt, UC Davis stud wide receiver Chris Martin returned the kick 49 yards before Miguel Cerriteno knocked the ball out and completely flipped momentum to the Green and White’s side.

“We teach our guys on special teams and defense that at the end of every play is a turnover and you got to stick with it and I think Miguel would have liked to do better at the start of that play, but he stuck with it and caught up to him and striped the ball,” Schweigert said. “That’s a huge play in the game. It really changed the game because we were able to turn that into points.”

After the turnover, Studsrud and the offense was able to capitalize on a Luke Stanley touchdown and the Green and White took a 21-10 lead into half.

While the Aggies outscored UND 14-10 in the second half and got things close, the Green and White did enough on both sides of the ball to secure the big home victory. The offense showed signs of maturity, as Santiago and Studsrud calmly marched down the field and ran out the clock.

With this win, the Green and White have advanced to 3-1 for the first time since the 2012 season.

Next week, the Green and White face off against Big Sky Conference program Portland State, which is 3-0 to start the year. The game takes place at Portland, Ore. at 4 p.m.

Alex Stadnik is the sports editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]