Cooper Throws for 403 Yards and 3 TD's as Spartans Win in Brainerd

"We were able to go on the road and get a win against a very good Central Lakes program, that's certainly an accomplishment," said Head Coach Austin Jones of M State. "There are a lot of things we need to clean up, we had too many penalties, and too many missed opportunities.  We need to clean things up moving forward to achieve our goals. It always nice to get a win, but we must live up to our own higher standard."

The Spartans struck quickly as Cooper and Tucker connected for a 70 yard TD on just the second play of the season, getting on the board just 29 seconds into the game, taking a 6-0 lead.  Central Lakes responded with a touchdown on their first possession of the game as David Collins broke free for a 43 yard run to the end zone.  The Raiders took an 8-6 on a successful two-point conversion pass from Mike Tveitbakk to Noah Disbrow.  M State scored two more first quarter touchdowns to take an 18-8 lead.  Rashad Madden capped an 8 play, 75 yard scoring drive with a 15 yard TD run and after the defense stopped the Raiders on downs at the Spartan 39, Cooper and Tucker hooked up for a 61 yard TD pass on the first play of the possession.

In the second quarter, M State took the ball 65 yards in 10 plays and scored on a 12 yard run by Madden and a successful two-point pass from Cooper to Jamazee Wilson, increasing their lead to 26-8 with 2:13 to play in the first half.  Central Lakes cut the lead to 26-16 with 19 seconds remaining in the half on a 7 yard TD pass from Tveitbakk to Riley Larson and a two-point conversion run by Derrick Cox-Payton.

On the first possession of the second half, Central Lakes drove to the M State 24, but a fourth down sack by Keondre Hodges stopped their progress and gave the ball back to the Spartans who then went 65 yards in 7 plays, scoring on a 14 yard run by a scrambling Cooper for a 32-16 lead.  M State upped their lead to 38-16 when Cooper hit Ian Stanton on a 4th down and 6 play to cap a 61 yard, 9-play scoring drive with just 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Central Lakes put the final points on the board with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter when Derrick Cox-Payton carried the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out, making the final 38-22.

M State had a total of 457 yards and 23 first downs.  Madden was their leading rusher with 41 yards on 10 carries.  JC Johnson (4 catches, 54 yards) and Stanton (4 catches, 44 yards, 1 TD) followed Tucker on the receiving charts, while Cristino Rivera and Madden each had 3 catches.  Cooper completed passes to 8 different receivers on the day.

Defensively, Kamm Blackmon had the lone interception for M State and also had a pair of pass break-ups.  The Spartans recorded 6 sacks on the day, led by Hodges with 3.  Hodges also led the team with 11 tackles (6 solo, 5 assisted), while Sam Tagg contributed 7 (3 solo, 4 assisted).

Central Lakes had 208 total yards (128 passing, 80 rushing) and 15 first downs.  Individual leaders were Tveitbakk (10-for-22, 128 yards, 1 TD), David Collins (7 carries, 62 yards, 1 TD) and David Boyd, Jr. (4 catches, 69 yards).  Brayden Bleymeyer picked off a pass, while Ashton Hanan and Adam Kiatamba each recovered a fumble.  Forced fumbles were caused by Chisum Schmiedeberg and Armon Walker.  Central Lakes recorded 4 sacks in the game.  Hanan was their leading tackler with 11 (8 solo, 3 assisted).

"Keondre Hodges had a great day defensively; he was our leading tackler and had three sacks," noted Coach Jones.  "Marquan Tucker had an outstanding college debut, 6 catches for 191 yards and 2 TDs. KJ Cooper continued to show that he's the best QB in the conference, he had over 400 yards passing, 3 passing TDs and 1 rushing. He also made an extremely heads up play, his punt was blocked on 4th down, he picked it up and found Marquan Tucker downfield for a 59-yard completion."

M State will host NDSCS from Wahpeton at 1:30pm Saturday, September 9, in their home opener.