Mayville, ND - The MLC football finished off its 2023 season under the lights at Mayville State on Saturday evening. The Knights were in search of their third win of the year in the nonconference game with the NAIA opponent, but the Comets' passing attack had other plans and came away with the 45-20 win over MLC.
Quarterback Tim Salmon led Mayville State through the air with 388 passing yards and six touchdowns, with four of them coming in the first quarter to give the Comets a 28-13 lead.Â
Both defenses responded in the second quarter as neither team scored, keeping the score at 28-13 into halftime. The Knights then marched down the field for an 11 play, 75 yard touchdown drive to start the second half. The drive included a good mix of pass and run plays and
Max Nordlie ran it up the gut for a one-yard touchdown run and the Knights came within eight points (28-20) with 8:54 remaining in the third quarter.
Just as MLC had gotten back into the game, the Comets executed on a deep ball from Salmon to Javeion Davison that pushed the Mayville State lead back up to double-digits (35-20).
From there, Mayville State forced the Knights into several turnovers and wound up settling into the 45-20 win.
In his final game at MLC, Nordlie had 194 passing yards and added 75 yards on thr ground to lead the Knights to 170 rushing yards a team.
Andrew Raasch had a career day as a wideout and snagged three receptions, 117 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
David Baumann had a team-high 10 tackles and
Thomas Balge was right behind him with nine stops.
With the loss, MLC finishes the season 2-8 overall for a second consecutive season under head coach
Paul Huebner. The two wins came in conference play in back to back weeks with a 31-29 win over Greenville and a 13-3 victory against Crown. The Knights also had three losses in single digits and hope to turn some of those close losses into wins for the 2024 season.
