Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Minnesota sports with weekend of excellence

VIKINGS –24           CAROLINA--21

Two top rookie quarterbacks faced off on Sunday with the 12th pick getting bragging right. A Christian Ponder inspired Vikings club got a little help from the defense to take an early lead. An E.J Henderson forced fumble from Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, was recovered by Jared Allen and gave the offense a short field to work with. A couple plays later, Percy Harvin rushed up the middle for a 10 yard touchdown, his first touchdown of the season. Carolina then came storming back with back to back scoring drive which ended with Cam Newton connecting with Jeremy Shockey from 1 yard out and Greg Olsen from 39 yards out. But the Vikings would not go down easy. After an impressive drive going into halftime, Ponder connected with Adrian Peterson for a 19 yard pass to tie the game, 14-14 at the half. After the break, Carolina would resume the lead with Newton finding Steve Smith on a pretty pass play to make the score 21-14 Panthers. Another well executed drive by Ponder and the Vikings lead to a Adrian Peterson rushing touchdown from 9 yards out to tie the game once again. The fourth quarter was one mostly dominated by each team’s defense with no team scoring until Ryan Longwell hit a 31 yard field goal to give the Vikings a 24-21 lead.  The Panthers would put up a big fight at the end of the game but Carolina kicker Olindo Mare missed a 31 yard field goal with 26 seconds left. The Vikings improve to 2-6 on the season with their bye week upcoming, the next game is on Monday Night Football November 14th at Green Bay.

GOPHERS—22        IOWA--21

One of the more shocking turn of events this past weekend was the Gopher football team upset the Iowa Hawkeyes 22-21 and keep the Floyd of Rosedale in Minneapolis for one more year. For the second year in a row the Iowa Hawkeyes came into TCF Bank Stadium and left disappointed. In the first quarter both teams held their own with each team being held scoreless. The second quarter on the other hand, the Hawkeyes showed their powerful running game but ended up scoring with a pass from quarterback James Vandenberg to wide out Marvin McNutt to give the visitors a 7-0 lead. It wouldn’t be until 1:13 left in the first half until the Gophers score on a three yard pass from quarterback MarQuis Gray to tight end Colin McGarry to even it up at 7-7. The key play on the drive was when Gray hit wide receiver Devin Crawford-Tuftus for a 61 yard gain. After the half, Iowa once again kept at the running game and ended the drive with running back Marcus Coker scoring from one yard out. Coker would have a career day ending up with 252 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.  The Gophers would answer with a 28 yard field goal by back up kicker Jordan Wettstein, which were his first collegiate points. In the final quarter, Coker would score once again from one yard out to make the score 21-10 Hawkeyes. Just when most people thought the Gophers were out of the game, they would make it a ballgame when running back Duane Bennett rushed in for the touchdown but the two point conversion failed. Then the biggest play of the game took place when head coach Jerry Kill when for the onside kick which was recovered by Gopher safety Kim Royston. With Minnesota only down by one score, they would march down the field and end up scoring to go ahead for the first time in the game when Gray scored from three yards out to give the Gophers a 22-21 lead. Then Iowa would get the ball back but failed on fourth down and Minnesota would run out the rest of the clock to cap off an improbable win. After the game, students and fans stormed the field and celebrated with the Gophers and Floyd of Rosedale.

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