FARGO, N.D. - Six different players scored as North Dakota State defeated Montana Tech 56-3 before a crowd of 11,030 at the Fargodome Saturday, Sept. 11.
North Dakota State (2-1) is scheduled to host Carson-Newman (Tenn.) College (2-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Fargodome. The Eagles enter as one of the top-ranked NCAA Division II teams in the country.
A pair of players scored twice. Senior wide receiver Allen Burrell caught two touchdown passes for 48 and 31-yards, while freshman Shamen Washington scored on a 80-yard run from scrimmage and a dazzling 90-yard kickoff return. NDSU also received a 24-yard TD reception by Marques Johnson and a 13-yard TD reception from Travis White.
Tony Stauss bounced back to complete 14 of 19 passes for 178 yards, while Steve Walker hit 4 of 5 passes for 73 yards. Each Bison quarterback had two TD passes. Walker's school record consecutive pass streak was stopped at 16.
North Dakota State had 504 yards of total of offense compared to 225 for Montana Tech (1-1). Tech held a 38:20-21:40 advantage in time of possession.
Quotes:
Head Coach Craig Bohl:
On the game plan against Montana Tech
"Once we felt like they were trying to avoid our rush, Coach (Jimmy) Burrow did a nice job of mixing in some edge pressure to make sure we could contain their quarterback. It was a great game plan and the guys really executed it well."
Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Burrow Jr.
On NDSU not giving up a touchdown yet in the 2004 season
"It's very hard this day in age to keep people out of the end zone with offenses doing so much. But our guys take a lot of pride in it and we'll see how far it goes."
On the Bison defensive mentality
"Our number one objective is always to stop the run first, force the pass, and make them pass in a hurry."
Quarterback Tony Stauss:
On rebounding this week with 178 yards passing (14-19) and 2 touchdowns
"I went back to basics; I went back to reading movement keys and going back to the fundamentals of playing football. I got off my high horse a little bit and listened to the coaching and it was good for me tonight."
On preparing for Carson-Newman
"I'm going to go back and really look hard at Carson NEwman this week and as a team we'll need to come out and establish ourselves like we did tonight. I'm going to look at the film and I know there's going to be some things I need to get better at and I'm going to humble myself and keep a chip on my shoulder that I think I got after last Saturday (at Northern Colorado)."
Free Safety Jared Essler
On the defensive performance
"We were a little shaky right out of the gates, but overall, when you only give up three points, you're going to win a lot of games."
Wide Receiver Allen Burrell
On scoring two touchdowns against Montana Tech
"It's pitch and catch and if they call your number, you have to make the big plays. We knew going into the game we had a little speed edge that we wanted to take advantage of."
On coming back from last week's 15-13 loss at Northern Colorado
"It does feel good, but more importantly, we got the win and got that monkey off our back from last week against UNC."
