Minnesota Duluth’s football playoff victory over Northwest Missouri State last week will be one Bulldogs running back Logan Lauters will never forget, even if he can’t quite remember all of it.
Lauters suffered a concussion early in the fourth quarter on a hard hit by the Bearcats’ defense and left the contest. Even so, Lauters, the Bulldogs’ leading rusher, hopes to play at noon Saturday when No. 2 UMD (12-0) plays No. 7 Ouachita Baptist (10-0) in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs in Arkadelphia, Ark.
“I’m getting better every day,” Lauters said, “but we have to wait till the symptoms are gone.”
Concussions, unfortunately, are part of sports and physical activity, whether it is scrambling for a loose ball in basketball or wiping out while downhill skiing.
“It kind of comes with the territory,” said Lauters, a muscled, 5-foot-9, 210-pound junior who runs hard. “That was the first time I was ever taken out of a game. That was my first (concussion) ever, but it was going to happen eventually, I guess.”
The UMD football team deals with concussions every season and follows certain protocols before clearing an athlete to play.
UMD was off Monday. Lauters watched football practice on Tuesday and ran on Wednesday. He is expected to take an impact test today. If he scores a certain percentile, he hopes to return to regular practice later in the day.
“I’m betting I’ll be able to play still,” Lauters said.
Lauters leads the Bulldogs with 1,287 rushing yards, good for 107.2 yards per game. He averages a team-best 7.4 yards per carry and has 11 touchdowns.
If he can’t go, it makes the Bulldogs even thinner in the backfield after losing senior Austin Sikorski to injury. Sophomores Beau Bofferding and Caleb Belknap, who had a couple key runs in UMD’s 25-21 victory over Northwest Missouri, could be relied on even more.
Lauters has gone back and watched film but said it is hard to tell exactly when and where he was hit in the head.
“I can vaguely recall the play,” Lauters said. “I was out of it. It’s not the best feeling, that’s for sure.”
With Lauters watching from the sideline, UMD erupted for 19 points in the final 10:15 to stun the defending national champion Bearcats. Northwest Missouri State had one final desperation play that finally ended with a Beau Bates tackle at the UMD 11-yard line.
“That play was pretty ridiculous,” Lauters said. “I was still kind of in a dream state at that point, but I understood that we won and everything.”
FINAL PLAY RECAPPED
For those who haven’t seen the final play of last week’s game, video is available at portal.stretchinternet.com/umd. Click “on demand” to find the Northwest Missouri game and then fast forward to the end.
KBJR Ch. 6 sports director Zach Schneider and former UMD defensive coordinator Vince Repesh do a nice job following the play until its completion, from the quarterback snap with nine-tenths of a second remaining, to a fumble, to an offensive lineman running with the ball and then kicking it, to Bates finally tackling receiver Korey Jackson down the far sideline.
The Bulldogs weren’t able to watch the play on their own recording because their end zone cameraman already had shut his camera off, thinking the play was over.
“It was a wild play from start to finish,” UMD coach Curt Wiese said. “It kept going through my head, ‘This has got to end at some point.’ We were extremely happy it ended short of the end zone, because, honestly, I don’t think any of us knew the ball was live at that point.”
GIVING THANKS
One drawback to being a successful college football program is that an extended season can start to interfere with holiday season.
So for the Bulldogs, if you can’t make it home for Thanksgiving, then gathering as a team is the next best thing.
Lauters said about 35 UMD players will gather today at Lakewood Town Hall in Duluth for Thanksgiving dinner.
“There are a bunch of parents coming up to help out as well,” he said. “It is a busy week. Not many people can make it home, so we ended up doing this.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
NO. 2 UMD (12-0) AT NO. 7 OUACHITA BAPTIST (10-0)
What: NCAA Division II second-round playoff game
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Cliff Harris Stadium, Arkadelphia, Ark.
Forecast: Partly cloudy with a high of 69 and 10-20 mph wind
Webcast: new.livestream.com/obu/
football/
Radio: KQDS-AM 1490; fan1490.com
Fast fact: Ouachita is in playoffs for first time since leaving NAIA and joining NCAA Division II in 1997.
