BISON PLAYOFF HISTORY - North Dakota State University Athletics

2009 BISON FOOTBALL
120
BISON IN THE PLAYOFFS
1986 NCAA Quarterfi nals
FARGO, ND--"It was no contest."
That statement constituted the lead in
the Fargo Forum and quite simply put the
proper perspective on North Dakota State's
50-0 NCAA Division II quarterfi nal win over
Ashland College of Ohio on a cloudy, 29-degree
day at Dacotah
Field.
The Bison scored
three touchdowns
and blocked a punt
out of the end zone
for a safety in the
opening 12 minutes
of play and the rout
was on. Senior
quarterback Jeff
Doug Lloyd (37)
takes a handoff
against the Eagles.
Bentrim ran for two
TDs and passed for
another while backfi
eld mate James
Molstre scored a
pair of TDs and ran for 122 yards before a
knee injury in the second half ended his
sterling career.
In winning for the 20th time in the last
21 games (20-0-1), NDSU ran for an NCAA
Division II playoff record 523 yards.
How good were the Bison? "Beano Cook
of USA Network said recently that NDSU was
the 10th best team in the nation, regardless
of divisions," Ashland coach Fred Martinelli
said. "I think he's pretty close."
Statistics Ashland NDSU
First Downs 11 28
Yds. Rushing 124 523
Yds. Passing 66 45
Total Offense 190 568
Passes 10-27-2 4-8-1
Punts 9-30.5 3-36.0
Penalties 3-25 6-64
Fumbles/Lost 1-0 1-1
Ashland 0 0 0 0 -- 0
NDSU 22 7 7 14 -- 50
NDSU--Molstre 12 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Safety (punt blocked out of end zone)
NDSU--Bentrim 4 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Kretchman 7 pass from Bentrim (run failed)
NDSU--Molstre 35 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Bentrim 1 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Barta 6 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Paulson 43 run (Kubisz kick)
A--12,092
Top Individuals
Rushing--Molstre (NDSU) 10-122; Lloyd (NDSU) 12-95; Stark
(NDSU) 9-85; Paulson (NDSU) 5-83
Passing--Biondo (AC) 9-24-2, 66 yds.; Bentrim (NDSU)
2-5-1, 24 yds.
Receiving--Burkett (AC) 4-15; Clouatre (AC) 2-31; Gleason
(NDSU) 1-17; Paulson (NDSU) 1-15
1986 NCAA Semifi nals
FARGO, ND--The praise for the 1986
North Dakota State football team continued
as the Bison pinned a 35-12 whipping on
Central State of Ohio in the semifi nals.
"The Bison have a program that's on the
same level as a Division I-A team," said CSU
coach Billy Joe. "We played about as well as
the Bison allowed us."
"That's simply the most awesome defense
you'll ever want to see," said Central State
quarterback Vince Leavell. "We didn't execute
and it was because of that defense."
Kodak All-America running back Terry
Morrow of Central State called the Bison
defense the best in the country. "Everyone
of them gets to the ball," he said. "They're
so disciplined and they all do what has to
be done every play. Without a doubt, those
were my toughest yards."
NDSU's defense came up with three turnovers
and limited CSU to just 48 yards in 33
running plays.
Again, it was senior quarterback Jeff
Bentrim who made the Bison attack go.
Bentrim ran for 111 yards and two TDs and
fi red a pair of scoring aerials to sophomore
split end Len Kretchman to account for four
of the fi ve Bison TDs.
The win advanced NDSU to the national
title game for the fourth consecutive year
and the fi fth time in the last six seasons.
Statistics CSU NDSU
First Downs 9 19
Yds. Rushing 48 316
Yds. Passing 211 117
Total Offense 259 433
Passes 11-26-2 5-12-0
Punts 8-34.6 5-30.6
Penalties 5-55 4-40
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 3-1
Central State 0 0 0 12 -- 12
NDSU 7 7 21 0 -- 35
NDSU--Bentrim 5 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Lloyd 33 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Kretchman 20 pass from Bentrim (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Kretchman 71 pass from Bentrim (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Bentrim 17 run (Kubisz kick)
CSU--Moore 75 pass from Leavell (kick failed)
CSU--Morrow 2 run (run failed)
A--12,380
Top Individuals
Rushing--Bentrim (NDSU) 18-111; Lloyd (NDSU) 16-84; Morrow
(CSU) 22-68; Toshner (NDSU) 2-44
Passing--Leaveall (CSU) 11-23-1, 211 yds.; Bentrim (NDSU)
3-8-0, 102 yds.
Receiving--Moore (CSU) 4-122; Morrow (CSU) 3-24; Kretchman
(NDSU) 2-91; Street (CSU) 2-45
1986 NCAA Championship
FLORENCE, AL--North Dakota State
captured its third national NCAA Division
II football title in the last four years on a
cool December day at Braly Stadium with a
sound 27-7 win over North Central Conference
rival South Dakota.
"I wish to hell they would get out of Division
II," said South Dakota head coach Dave
Triplett following the game. "They can go
This revised billboard in Florence said
it all.
wherever they want."
And, again, the key to the Bison success
rested with quarterback Jeff Bentrim. The
senior who started in all four of the championship
games over his career, ran for 111
yards and two TDs while leading the NDSU
offense to a 354-yard total offense performance.
The special teams were responsible for
the fi nal three TDs of the game, pinning
USD at the 1-yard line on a kickoff return
that led to one score, Tyrone Braxton's
84-yard punt return early in the second
half upped the lead to 20-0, and Daryl
Illikainen's recovery of a fumbled USD punt
return in the fourth quarter set up the last
score.
Statistics USD NDSU
First Downs 14 19
Yds. Rushing 184 313
Yds. Passing 69 47
Total Offense 253 360
Passes 6-13-1 4-6-1
Punts 3-36.7 1-32.0
Penalties 3-11 3-25
Fumbles/Lost 2-2 1-0
South Dakota 0 0 7 0 -- 7
NDSU 0 14 6 7 -- 27
NDSU--Bentrim 4 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Barta 1 run (Kubisz kick)
NDSU--Braxton 84 punt return (kick failed)
USD--Jones 1 run (McLoughlin kick)
NDSU--Bentrim 4 run (Kubisz kick)
A--11,506
Top Individuals
Rushing--Bentrim (NDSU) 20-111; Lloyd (NDSU) 16-78;
Toshner (NDSU) 9-66; Jones (USD) 19-51
Passing--Jones (USD) 5-8-0, 65 yds.; Bentrim (NDSU)
4-6-1, 47 yds.
Receiving--Kretchman (NDSU) 2-22; Parr (USD) 2-17;
Southwick (USD) 1-30; Stark (NDSU) 1-14