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Football

NWC seniors play final game in loss to St. Thomas

Box Score

ST. PAUL – Northwestern College's football season didn't end in the way players, coaches and fans
hoped it would on Saturday, as the Eagles lost to the University of St. Thomas 63-14.  The Tommies, who, at 9-1 this season are expected to receive a bid into the 32-team NCAA playoffs, amassed 477 yards of total offense while holding NWC to just 253 yards in the game.

By the time Northwestern scored its first points of the game midway through the second quarter, the host-Tommies had already put 35 points on the board.  St. Thomas had no problems on offense to begin the contest, as second-year Head Coach Glenn Caruso's team scored on their first three possessions of the game.

NWC quarterback Zach Tarter (Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park High School) connected with Kyle Thomforde (Northfield, Minn./Northfield High School) (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) on a 46-yard pass play to cut St. Thomas' lead to 35-7 with 8:58 to play in the second quarter.  Rahnee Dennard (Mesa, Ariz./Brophy College Prep) (Mesa, Ariz./Brophy Prep) ended his college career with a two-yard touchdown run with 9:46 left in the game.

The Tommies' Fritz Waldvogel returned both a kickoff and punt return for touchdowns.  Joe Novitzki ran for three scores, while Colin Tobin added a pair of touchdown runs.

Tarter completed 17 of his 26 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown while playing his seventh consecutive game without throwing an interception.  The two-time UMAC Offensive Player of the Year wrapped up his senior season that included 14 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Thomforde, another departing senior who became the Eagles' first-ever 3,000-yard receiver earlier this season, caught 12 passes for 135 yards in the game.  Thomforde's career yards record will now be final at 3,282.  Grant VanderArk (Bozeman, Mont./Manhattan Christian High School) (Bozeman, Mont./Manhattan Christian) was Northwestern's next leading receiver with 26 yards.

Ryan Long (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) led NWC with 72 yards rushing on the day.

Defensively, Luke Delain (Denmark, Wis./Denmark) (Denmark, Wis./Denmark) paced the Eagles with 11 tackles, while Kyle Nash (Fergus Falls, MN/Hillcrest Lutheran Academy), the 2008 UMAC Defensive Player of the Year, finished his playing career with a nine-tackle game.

 Northwestern concludes its 2009 campaign at 5-5 overall and 3-1 in UMAC play.  This year marks the first season that an Eagles' squad coached by Kirk Talley has finished with a .500 record.  In nine seasons at the program's helm, Talley's teams have never experienced a losing season.  Talley's career record at NWC now stands at 66-26.
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