Injury update 10:30 p.m.

A rundown of the Bison injuries, following coach Craig Bohl's post-game press conference following NDSU's 50-14 win over Central Connecticut State:

Left tackle Gerry Ebel will likely be out at least three to four weeks with an injured knee, Bohl said.

Running back Tyler Roehl left the game in the first half with a possible high ankle sprain. He's "day to day, week to week" and "touchy," Bohl said.

Middle linebacker Tyler Henry came out of the game late with a knee injury. Bohl didn't have any information.

Strong safety Cyrus Lemon suffered a hip pointer.

Safety Chris Bigley and linebacker Fred Bussey, both backups, also came out of the game with injuries.

We'll see how everything shakes out come Sunday and Monday, when trainers and coaches have a better handle on the injuries. But if Ebel, Roehl, Lemon and Henry are out, that is a big deal heading into Wyoming.

"We have to find out a lot more. Some of these guys are going to look a whole lot different Monday than they will Sunday, but certainly the depth does concern you," Bohl  said. "We're going out to play a team from the Mountain West. They have 85 scholarships and we have 63. But that's the nature of things. We knew that when we took the game. Certainly depth will come into play, but we'll see who is all healthy."

We're out. Have a good weekend everybody. Kolpack will update the situation Sunday for his blog and for Monday's newspaper.

Posted by: Mike McFeely on 9/06/2008 at 10:21 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Bison hurt by injuries

North Dakota State appears to have a number of injuries in a blowout game against Central Connecticut State, which the Bison lead 43-7 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

RB Tyler Roehl left the game early with an ankle injury.

OL Gerry Ebel injured his knee.

SS Cyrus Lemson, already subbing for injured Kyle Belmont, left with a hip injury.

FS Chris Bigley appeared to have hurt a knee.

LB Fred Bussey left with a leg injury.

UPDATE: MLB Tyler Henry left late with a knee injury.

Don't know how serious any of these injuries are. Will have to check after game, and even then not sure what we'll find out given the immediacy of post-game interviews.

But if the Bison are losing players to injuries this early in the season, especially key guys like Roehl and Ebel and Lemon, that would not be good heading into Wyoming, Youngstown and rest of Missouri Valley slate.

Posted by: Mike McFeely on 9/06/2008 at 8:13 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

NDSU - Cent Conn live blog

OK, live at the Fargodome. Late arriving crowd, probably because the tailgating was huge outside. Absolutely perfect fall day in FArgo-Moorhead. Mid-60s, sunny, zero wind. Gorgeous. Hopefully all the TGing Bison fans had their barbeques and coolers working well.

Few minutes to kickoff, then we'll update as we go.

Cent Conn wins toss, defers to second half.

FIRST QUARTER

Shamen Washington takes kickoff for Bison at 15 and returns it to the 33. Shamen's first return of '08.

14:49: Tyler Roehl takes first handoff of game and has a massive hole on left side, 11 yards and first down.

13:41: Nick Mertens bootlegs on second and 8, and dumps short pass left to FB Tyler Jangula. He goes 10 yards to CCS 45.

NExt play Roehl goes up middle, huge hole, sprints to 6 yard line before taken down by Ralph McKenle.

Bison offensive line controlling things on first drive. Presumed that will be the ways things go today.

Second and goal from 5, Mertens fakes handoff and hits Jordan Schultenover wide open in end zone. PAT good. 12:06 remaining and Bison lead 7-0.

No problems on first offensive series for Bison. Running game is there and it has already set up play-action.  NDSU rolling right away.

CCSU's first offensive series. Supposedly good running team, l.et's see what they have.

They have good stuff -- James Mallory goes up middle, big hole and rips off 21 yards run on first play to CCSU 43.

CCSU QB on second down and 7 keeps running left and takes good hit from multiple Bison. Gets up quickly jawing at NDSU.

Third down and 2 from NDSU 49, Mallory gets handoff. No gain. Should be 4th down.

CCSU 69 Jesse Castillo, the starting right guard, is down with an injury. Doesn't look good. Working on left leg, checking out possible knee, it looks like.

4th and two, CCSU lines up to punt. Surprising to me. What is there to lose for CCSU? Solid running game, go for it on the road against No. 1. Punt goes to 13 of NDSU, where Bion will take over first down.

Roehl takes advantage of little seam to burst for 39 yards to Cent Conn 30. Roehl already nearing 100 yards.

Next play, Pat Paschall dances through line and then does 360 spin to elude Ray Saunders and gain 15 yards. Bison might rush for 200 yards in first quarter if they punch in this drive and get the ball back.

Roehl must've got dinged up on his big run. He's on side line with helmet off and trainer looking at him. We'll keep eye on him.

Meantime, DJ McNorton goes 13 yards for touchdown, nice run along sideline. First career TD.

Bison have about 130 yards rushing on their first two drives and lead 14-0 with 7:53 left in first quarter.

Game over.

Cent Conn goes three and out on next drive, only one running play. Mallory held to one yard on first down and Cent Conn passes on next two plays. Bison will take that l.

Bison block punt, No. 81 Warren Holloway, and Bison recover in end zone No. 7 Daniel Eaves for touchdown. 6:24 left in first and Bison lead 21-0.

Bison doing something positive on special teams, which hasn't always been the case the last couple of years. That's a bonus.

Bison overwhelming the Blue Devils right now. It's a rear-end kicking.

ON first down from 23, Mallory cuts inside and breaks a couple of tackles to gain 18 yards. He's good, elusive and strong with some speed. CCSU has the ability to run the ball. Their offensive line is doing all right. It's just that NDSU is stronger up front.

Bison take over again after Cent Conn drive stalls. First and 10 at their own 24. See if they can punch in a nother before end of quarter.

Mertens misses wide open Jerimiah Wurzbacher on first down. Wurz was open at 50 with a step on defender and would've been big play, just thrown off ends of fingertips.

No. 16 TJ Radzilowski of Cent Conn down with an injury.

3rd and 9, Bison go with WR screen to Heckendorf out to 49 yard line and first down for NDSU.

That's 27 straight games in which Heckendorf has caught a pass.

Roehl back in game on first down from 34 of Cent Conn.

Shamen Washington takes pass from Mertens for 7 yards, but Schultenover claled for personal foul penalty 15 yards back to 43 of NDSU.

On play action, Roehl gets hit hard in backfield by CCSU defender and looks hurt. Comes off field and goes to sideline. Takes off helmet and trainer is again looking at him. The way Roehl was reacting, I'd be surprised to see him back in game. Looked frustrated about whatever the injury might be.

From 17 yard line of CCSU, Paschall gets good blocking and goes right for TD with 1:00 left in quarter. Paschall juked and jumped over safety Ralph McKenley at 10. Missed PAt by Bibeau -- 27-0 for the Bison with 1:00 left in first.

Kolpack reports ice bag on Roehl's ankle.

END OF FIRST QUARTER -- 27-0 Bison. Complete domination. Quickie stats soon.

Total yards: NDSU 246, CCSU 65.

Roehl 100 yards in first quarter. Pashcall 35. Mertens 8 of 9 for 92 yards and 1 TD.

Mallory 47 yards for CCSU.

SECOND QUARTER

To answer first question on comments: I'd expect most starters to go the whole first half. Wholesale subs in second half. Bison have been rolling more players in and out of the gmae, like they did in opener. Trying to build some depth and give guys a break with long season ahead.

CCSU has new QB in game with 13:06 left. No. 11 Hunter Wanket is in. Incomplete pass on first dowh, completion for 7 on second down.

Inc. pass on third down. Good pressure on outside from Michael Fairbairn for Bison.

6:25 left in second quarter, Bison take over agian with 34-0 lead. On first down, Mertens looks like he turns wrong way after snap, but passes to Lee Vandal for 20 yard gain down to CCSU 22.

Paschall and McNorton getting some reps here with Roehl sidelined. That was something Craig Bohl talked about in preseason and after first game -- building depth at RB because it's a position that is prone to lots of reps and sometimes injuries. It appears he was sage in that thought.

Gerry Ebel down for Bison wikth 5:16 left in half. Tried to get up and coldn't. Trainers checking out right knee. This would not be good. He's a stalwart on o-line and with Zach Harrington already out the injuries could be mounting. He's coming off field slowly but with own power.

Wurbacher catches TD from Mertens. PAT blocked, second missed PAT of game. 40-0 with 4:51 left in half.

No fireworks after this score. Either Bison have run out, or Gene Taylor figured they were getting too expensive.

CCSU on the board with 2:13 in first half. Wanket hits Josue Paul on 18 yard TD pass. Kick good. 40-7 NDSU.

Just checking on Wyomings game against Air Force: Air Force wins 23-3 in Laramie this afternoon.

Ugly game for the Cowboys and coach Joe Glenn. 216 total yards and 5 turnovers for the Cowboys. Wyoming is 1-1 overall, 0-1 in the Mountain West Conference. Heat was already on Joe Glenn to win seven games or more -- looks like he could be in trouble if COwboys are playing that poorly at home. Bison could put a stake in him with a win next week.

Shamen is back -- Washington returns kickoff 76 yards with a couple of cuts and a pinball like broken tackle. Bison back in biz at the CCSU 13 yard line.

Drive dies, but Shawn Bibeau comes in and kicks 37 yard FG with 51.1 secs left in half. 43-7 Bison.

HALFTIME STATS:

First downs: NDSU 16, CCSU 5.
Passing yards: NDSU 133, CCSU 50
Passing: NDSU 11-16-0, CCSU 7-14-0
Total offense: NDSU 375, CCSU 139

Mallory 11-68 rushing

Paschall 12-107 rushing, Roehl 4-100 rushing

Mertens 11-16 133 yds 2 TDs.

Receiving NDSU: Jangula 3-32, Wurzbacher 2-21, Schultenover 2-17, Heckendorf 1-24.

We're out of here. Real season starts next week for NDSU at Wyoming.

Posted by: Mike McFeely on 9/06/2008 at 5:51 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Stephen-Argyle keeps rolling

Fisher, MInn.

Stephen-Argyle, the team that garnered statewide and even some national attention last fall when it broke the Minnesota prep record for consecutive victories by a football team, is rolling right along this year.

The Storm ended last season with its fifth straight state 9-man title, and had won 67 games in a row.

The streak now sits at 69.

Stephen-Argyle beat Climax-Fisher 41-0 Friday afternoon to up its record to 2-0 this year.

The game was per usual for the Storm. They scored on their first four possessions in the first quarter to take a 27-0 lead and had backups on the field by the start of the second quarter.

Interestingly, the streak doesn't seem to be any burden or anchor hanging over the Storm. The couple of kids I talked with, and coach Mark Kroulik, just sort of take it in stride. The old "one game at a time" thing.

The most interesting thing I chatted about with Kroulik is that he pondered quitting after last season. He said it took until February for him and his wife to decide that he'd return to coaching for another year. Kroulik said he's basically been going to football practice every day in the fall for over 40 years and he figures there must be something else to do at this time of the year.

"I wanted to make sure I was all in and not coaching with one foot out the door," Kroulik said.

Funny side note: Kroulik's rain jacket had the following printed on the back:

2002
T.O.S. Conf Champs
Section Champs
MN State Playoffs
10-1

That was the last season the Storm lost a game! They fell in the state semifinals that year.

I teased Kroulik he needed to get an updated jacket. So he tore off the rain jacket and showed me the 2008 version of the Storm jacket. It, happily, includes updated information about five straight state titles.

Read more in Saturday's Forum about Stephen-Argyle.

Posted by: Mike McFeely on 9/05/2008 at 9:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

When will Stephen_Argyle lose?

We'll be in Fisher, Minn., Friday afternoon to take in the Stephen-Argyle vs. Fisher-Climax 9-man football game.

S-A has won a Minnesota record 68 straight games and, barring a major upset, will claim No. 69 Friday.

Looking forward to chatting with the S-A people. Enrollment is dropping in the school district and it will be interesting to hear what the Storm folks think is going to happen in the future.

Check back here Friday afternoon. We'll try to give some updates from the game and, of course, check Saturday's Forum for a column from the game.

Posted by: Mike McFeely on 9/04/2008 at 11:15 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink