CLC surprises No. 20 Mesabi
VIRGINIA - Quarterback Colt Gatzemeyer passed for 158 yards and two touchdowns and Dennis Taute rushed for 97 yards to help the Central Lakes College Raiders sting the 20th-ranked Mesabi Norse 16-8 in non-division play Saturday.
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Felipe Castro kicked a 23-yard field goal to open CLC's scoring. Gatzemeyer threw second-quarter touchdown passes of 30 yards to Dustin Kramer and 28 yards to Alex Leach.
Colt Gatzemeyer
"This was a strong test for us as Mesabi was nationally ranked, undefeated and coming off a state championship," Raiders coach Greg Medeck said. "We responded well by winning the game on the road. There are many aspects that we would like to improve on and start seeing our football team get better each week.
"Next weekend we host a tough Itasca team for our homecoming."
The victory raised CLC's overall record to 3-0 while admistering Mesabi its first loss.
Dennis Taute
Andrew Hallberg and Kyle Hedlund recovered fumbles for the Raiders, who led 16-0 in the second quarter.
"With third and goal at the 1-yard line we fumbled, which led to a large swing of momentum as Mesabi went 99 yards, mostly on two big pass plays, to cut the lead to 16-8 at half," Medeck said.
"It stayed that way the rest of the game as both defenses remained tough," Medeck added. "We saw some nice things from our passing game in the first half. Dennis Taute had another strong showing, rushing for nearly 100 yards for the second consecutive game.
"Kyle Crozon and Jordan Moll both recorded great days on defense, with more than 10 tackles apiece as well as a sack each. Karl Hunt had a great interception that he returned to the Mesabi 3-yard-line."
Central Lakes 3 13 0 0 - 16
Mesabi 0 8 0 0 - 8
CLC scoring plays
First quarter
Felipe Castro 23 FG
Second quarter
Dustin Kramer 30 pass from Colt Gatzemeyer (kick failed)
Alex Leach 28 pass from Gatzemeyer (Castro kick)
Team statistics
Rushing: CLC 39-106, M 142
Passing: CLC 11-19-1-158, M 126
Total yards: CLC 264, M 268
CLC individual stats
Rushing: Dennis Taute 26-97, Dustin Parker 1-9, Brandon Julius 2-3, Michael Iverson 7-1, Colt Gatzemeyer 3-2
Passing: Gatzemeyer 11-19-158
Receiving: Ryan Fay 3-51, Dustin Kramer 3-43, Alex Leach 1-28, Tyler Erickson 1-15, Nick Graber 1-12, Dan Ngandali 1-4, Michael Iverson 1-1
Overall: CLC 3-0. Next: Itasca at CLC 1:30 p.m. Saturday.