Box Score

Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 8, 2007 -- On a memorable night for many reasons, the Northwestern College football team suffered a 26-31 loss to Augsburg College under the lights at Edor Nelson Field. It was the second straight week that the Eagles lost by five or less, and was also the second consecutive game that Northwestern's defense yielded 31 points.

Saturday was also special for Scott Hvistendahl, an assistant coach for the Eagles, who had his jersey retired at half time. Hvistendahl is a part of 11 individual records at Augsburg, and currently sits in third position in NCAA Division II history for career receiving yardage on top of appearing in 16 different record categories in the Division III record book.

Augsburg scored consecutive touchdowns in the first quarter before the Eagles were able to counter with points. Coming off a two-touchdown performance last week versus Cornell that earned him UMAC Player of the Week Honors, senior Josh Lundeen (Princeton, MN/Faith Christian High School) (Princeton, Minn./Faith Christian Academy) caught a 10-yard pass from Tarter with 2:45 in the initial period to give Northwestern their first six points of the game. Augsburg scored again with 47 seconds left in the quarter on a 43-yard pass from Jordan Berg to Royce Winford, giving the Auggies a 21-7 lead.

Eagles' running back Steven Boggess (Ginnell, IA/Grinnell High School) (Grinell, Iowa/Grinnell) ran for the first of his three touchdowns at the 7:05 mark in the second half, capping off a two-play, 11-yard drive to put NWC within seven. The senior would account for the rest of Northwestern's point-production, scoring on runs of one and three yards.

Trailing 31-26 midway through the fourth quarter, the Eagles had their best shot at taking the lead when Zack Tarter (Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park) hit Kyle Thomforde (Northfield, Minn./Northfield High School) (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) for a 75-yard pass. Thomforde was tackled at Augsburg's 2-yard line, and NWC failed to break the plane of the end zone in four straight rushing attempts. Northwestern would have two more offensive possessions, but both resulted in Auggie interceptions.

Northwestern couldn't stop Augsburg's passing game, as was evidenced by quarterback Jordan Berg's 276 yards and four touchdowns, in addition to completing 26 of his 39 attempts.

Eagles' quarterback Tarter was 15-for-24 for 273 yards and a touchdown, but four interceptions put a damper on his offensive statistics. Thomforde had his best game of this season thus far, tallying 105 yards on four catches. Lundeen added seven catches for 69 yards.

Defensively, Andrew Magaard (Ogilvie, Minn./Ogilvie High School) (Ogilvie, Minn./Ogilvie) led the Eagles in tackles for the second straight game, totaling 12 tackle. Mike Polley (Plymouth, MN/Wayzata High School) (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) had two interceptions to go with his nine tackles.

Northwestern will return home to Reynolds Field next week, where they will begin UMAC play versus Rockford College for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, Sept. 15. The game will be held in conjunction with Football Frenzy, where a current or prospective Northwestern student will have the opportunity to win free tuition for one year.