What: North Central Conference football game
When: 3 p.m. today (CDT)
Where: Civic Stadium in Bellingham, Wash. (3,500, artificial turf)
Records: UMD (3-1, 1-1 NCC); Western Washington (1-3, 0-2 NCC)Radio: KDAL 610 AM
Series: This is the first meeting between the teams.
Fast fact: This is only the 11th time UMD has flown for a football game. UMD is 0-9-1 in those outings.
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Series: This is the first meeting between the teams.
This is the 11th time UMD has flown for a football game. Incidentally,
UMD is 0-9-1 in those outings.
Not everyone on the UMD team is a stranger to Bellingham.
UMD running back Marek Seta and cornerback Boloy Lokombo
have ties to the area. Seta hails from Surrey, British Columbia,
and Lokombo, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is
from Abbotsford, British Columbia. Both cites are near Vancouver,
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which is 55 miles north of Bellingham.
Polls: UMD received votes in the American Football Coaches
Association NCAA Division II Top 25 and is No. 21 in Don Hansen's
Football Gazette Top 40 poll. Western Washington is not
listed.
Coaches: Kyle ''Bubba'' Schweigert (Jamestown College,
1985) is 15-12 in his third season at UMD. Robin Ross (Washington
State, 1977) is in his first season as head coach at Western
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Washington.
Ross has an impressive resume, having been an assistant at
Oregon State (2005), Oregon (2001-04, 1997-98), Western
Washington (1994-95), Iowa State (1987-93), Fresno State
(1996), Cincinnati (1984-85) and Long Beach State (1977), as
well as with the Oakland Raiders (1999-2000) of the National
Football League.
UMD (3-1 overall, 1-1 in the NCC)
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ABOUT UMD: The Bulldogs are coming off a 31-25 victory
over Central Washington as Ted Schlafke hit freshman receiver
Dominique Johnson for the game-winning touchdown with 2:51
remaining and defensive back Bryan Dahl sealed it with an interception. Schlafke completed 26 of 43 passes for 291 yards, with three TDs and no interceptions. UMD sophomore Jim Johnson
helped turn the momentum by intercepting a PAT pass and returning
it 98 yards for two points. . . . UMD improved to 26-4
over its last 30 home games. It was the Bulldogs' 29th straight
victory when leading at halftime and helped offset UMD's lone
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loss, a 27-14 defeat Sept. 16 at South Dakota. ''Last week was
awesome,'' said UMD safety Trent Scheidecker. ''That was just
what we needed to bounce back. We went into that game with a
little chip on our shoulders and took it to them right away.'' . . . The Bulldogs are the league's top team in red zone efficiency, coming away with a TD in all nine trips inside an opponent's 20-yard line. UMD is also four-for-four on fourth downs. . . . Schlafke has thrown for 961 yards this season and has averaged 41 pass attempts per game. . . . Sophomore safety Tyler Yelk paced UMD with eight tackles last week and has 31 on the season, 10 more than any other Bulldog. . . . Kevin Krenz is expected to play but is listed as the backup to Dan Kitzberger at
outside linebacker.
WWU (1-3 overall, 0-2 in NCC)
ABOUT WWU: The Vikings are coming off a 26-20 loss at conference favorite North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux, ranked fourth in the AFCA Division II poll, trailed 20-13 at the half but shut out the Vikings the rest of the way in rallying for the win. WWU quarterback James Monrean completed 20 of 32 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown, with Travis McKee catching six passes
for 52 yards and a TD. The 6-foot-5 McKee and the Vikings trio
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of tall receivers could pose matchup problems for the Bulldogs.
. . . Western Washington is plus-four in turnover margin and
hasn't committed a turnover the last three games, all against nationally ranked opponents. Monrean has throw for 200 or more
yards three straight weeks. He is 65-for-110 passing for 780
yards on the season and hasn't been intercepted in his last 106
pass attempts. . . . Junior running back Calvin McCarty is a dual
threat running and catching the football. . . . The defense has
good size up front and has one of the NCC's top players in middle
linebacker Shane Simmons, who leads the league in tackles
with 44. Safeties Steve Davis and Todd McClellan anchor a secondary that has had five players miss games with injury. . . .
Washburn's lone victory came against 20th-ranked Washburn, a
playoff team last year. ''With Western Washington you throw out
the record,'' UMD coach Kyle Schweigert said. ''They are obviously a good team, and they showed that last week.''
JON NOWACKI, NEWS TRIBUNE
