Clan blanked by South Dakota School of Mines

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Simon Fraser University rushed for a season-high 183 yards but couldn’t find the end zone losing 19-0 to the South Dakota School of Mines in Great Northwest Athletic Conference football action on Dunham Field at O’Harra Stadium.

It is the first time since Sept. 4, 2010 when SFU lost 38-0 at home to Western Oregon – its first game in NCAA Division 2 – that the Clan has been held scoreless.

Simon Fraser remains winless at 0-5 this season while the Hardrockers improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the GNAC.

Simon Fraser junior running back Ante Milanovic-Litre rushed for a game-high 124 yards on 21 carries but the Clan was only able to drive the ball into the red zone on its final possession, going 92 yards in 17 plays before Milanovic-Litre was stopped for a loss on fourth a goal.

Other than the final possession, the closest the Clan got to the red zone was the Hardrockers 27 and 28 yard line in the second half.

“Offensively today our running game was able to establish itself but we really struggled at the QB position and were unable to establish consistency,” said Clan head coach Kelly Bates. “We did enough defensively to put us in a position to win but unfortunately our offense was unable to make any big plays.”

SD Mines led 16-0 at the half and 19-0 after three quarters.

After opening with a 24-yard field goal in the first quarter, the Hardrockers scored in the second quarter when senior quarterback Trent McKinney scrambled and broke for the end zone resulting in a 35-yard touchdown run with 11:58 to go in the half. A failed two-point conversion put SD Mines up, 9-0.

SD Mines scored again right before halftime on a six play drive that lasted just over a minute. It was capped off by a 19-yard TD pass from McKinney to senior wide receiver Kevin Mills as the Hardrockers went into the locker room with a 16-0 advantage.

SD Mines added a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter to account for all of the scoring.

“We dropped a couple of would-be interceptions that I thought would have changed the momentum of the game, and if we are going to be successful, we have to make those plays,” added Bates.

The Clan tallied 310 yards (183 rushing and 127 yards passing) of total offence while SD Mines was well balanced on offense with 478 yards (222 rushing, 254 passing). The Hardrockers also collected 28 first downs while SFU recorded 16.

SFU quarterback Ryan Stanford was 13-of-28 for 121-yards and one interception.  Backup quarterback Tyler Nickel was 1-of-8 for six yards.

Justin Buren was the Clan’s most dangerous receiver with five catches for 84 yards

The Clan defence was led by middle linebacker Jordan Herdman with 8 solo tackles and 11 assists while his brother, Justin, had 5 solo tackles, 6 assists and 1 sack.

Individually for the Hardrockers, McKinney led the ground game with 119 rushing yards and was 29 for 38 passing for 228 yards. Freshman running back Devin Nixon had 20 rushes for 74 yards.

Sophomore Daniel Ziegler caught nine passes for 81 yards.

Simon Fraser returns home to face Western Oregon University on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 PM at Swangard Stadium.