MENOMONIE - St. Norbert College saw a close game rupture into a comfortable UW-Stout lead as the host Blue Devils scored 20 points in just under five minutes to pull away to a 34-14 non-conference win at Williams Stadium.
The Green Knights trailed 7-6 late in the second quarter before Stout's Jack Meyer connected on a 46-yard field goal with 56 seconds left before halftime. St. Norbert then lost a fumble near midfield with 15 seconds left, and the Blue Devils parlayed that into a 52-yard field goal by Meyer with two seconds remaining and a 13-6 lead at halftime.
The first play from scrimmage in the second half was intercepted by Stout and returned to the St. Norbert 8. Two plays later Stout's Rayshawn Graham plunged across the goal line on a 2-yard run and a 20-6 lead. St. Norbert then went three-and-out on its next series, and Stout needed four plays to score again on an 8-yard Graham run with 11:12 left in the third quarter for a 27-6 lead.
Stout increased its lead to 34-6 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Sean Borgerding connected with Parker Fossum on a 44-yard touchdown pass. The Green Knights would later mount a nine-play, 80-yard drive to score on a 35-yard touchdown pass from
Ben Kohl to
Parker Lawrence with 7:30 remaining.
The Blue Devils opened the scoring two minutes into the game when Arthur Cox hauled in a 40-yard pass from Borgerding on a fleaflicker. Later in the first quarter,
Maccabee Barrett would force and receover a fumble at the Stout 23-yard line, which set up a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kohl to
John Bunks to cut the deficit to 7-6.
Stout would outgain St. Norbert 400-308 in total offense. Kohl would completed 18 of 31 passes for 169 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Owen Kudick had a team-high 42 rushing yards on 16 attempts. Lawrence caught five passes for 94 yards, while
Dylan Leschewski caught six passes for 39 yards.
Borgerding completed 18 of 23 passes for 218 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Graham had 98 yards on 18 carries with two scores, while Fossum caught seven passes for 96 yards.
Jaren Yoder led St. Norbert's defense with 12 tackles, with Barrett and
Kendall Karcz adding nine stops apiece.
