More than 7,000 spectators showed up at Dacotah Bank Stadium to celebrate Gypsy Days on Saturday afternoon and the Northern State football team did not let them down.
The Wolves were in control from start to finish in a 31-10 win over Concordia-St. Paul in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football action.
“A complete game today. Again, thanks to 7,000 people coming out for Gypsy Days,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt. “It was awesome. The atmosphere was incredible.”
Hank Kraft gave a glimpse of things to come when he took a short pass, made two defenders miss and ran up the sideline and into the end zone for 30-yard touchdown on Northern’s first offensive possession. The Timber Lake native later hurdled a would-be tackler to run for a first down, and also planted a potential tackler into the turf for another big gain.
“I was just trying to do my part,” Kraft said. “Plays come when they come. When you have the opportunity, you’ve got to take advantage of them, I guess.”
Kraft took advantage of his opportunities, rushing for 104 yards and a touchdown in addition to his touchdown reception.
Kraft credited the NSU offensive line for opening lanes to run through.
“They dominated all day long. I don’t know if they had one bust all day,” Kraft said. “Makes my job a lot easier. Just got to follow them.”
Quarterback Brock Bagozzi also played a key role in the victory, passing for 197 yards, including 69 of them and a touchdown to Zach Kraft. The signal caller also ran for a score.
Bagozzi said the NSU faithful, which numbered 7,011 on the day, gave the Wolves a big boost.
“It was awesome,” Bagozzi said. “I think the fans played a big part of it today, gave us a lot of energy and juice, and I’m just happy to get a win for them.”
Meanwhile, the Northern defense prevented big plays and kept the Golden Bears out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.
Javonne Szymanski played a role in that defensive effort.
“My performance is based off of everyone else,” Szymanski said. “I’m 1/11th of the defense, so I just try to do my best and my part, and when the ball comes to me, make my play.”
Jake Adams broke the NCAA Division II era mark for career tackles at Northern during the contest. The junior currently has 256 tackles. Kendall Titze is still the all-time leader at Northern with 383.
The Wolves played physical on the defensive side of the ball and limited any yards after contact throughout the game.
“It all starts with practice. We have an aggressive practice, a physical fall camp and what not,” Szymanski said. “As coach likes to say we build callouses on our forehead. We’re going to be the more dominant team, the more physical team.”
Northern scored a touchdown in the closing minute of the first half, and then kicked a field goal on its opening possession of the second half to extend an 11-point margin to a 24-3 advantage early in the third quarter.
“The score right at the end of the half, the score coming out of the half, getting that 10-point cushion there for us, allows us to just be a boa constrictor and just kind of choke you out a little bit,” Schmidt said.
The Wolves have now won two straight games following an opening-season setback. Northern has back-to-back games on the road, at Mary next week, and Bemidji State the week after that.
“Big test coming up,” Schmidt said. “Two on the road and tough places to play.”
However, the Wolves are hitting the field ready to go on game days, a mindset that Schmidt said takes shape during practice in the middle of the week, rain or shine.
“We want to try to train in the jungle. We don’t want to train in the zoo,” Schmidt said. “We want to train in the jungle, so that we’re ready to hunt on Saturdays.”
To see a complete box score from the game, click on the following link:
https://nsuwolves.com/sports/football/stats/2025/concordia-st-paul-gypsy-days-/boxscore/13988
