’Dogs first national title was extra special

By Jon Nowacki jnowacki@duluthnews.com

It was early in the fall of 2008 when I approached my sports editor, Rick Lubbers, about a trip I was thinking of taking to Las Vegas that December.

It was kind of a spur-of-themoment deal. A friend of mine was getting married out there, so Lubbers and I discussed the situation. My fall beat is covering Minnesota Duluth football, and the Bulldogs were having quite the season in coach Bob Nielson’s return to the helm. A trip out to Vegas could interfere with my job of covering the team, although it would be unprecedented for the Bulldogs to be playing into December.

“For UMD to play that late, wouldn’t they have to get past Grand Valley State?” Lubbers asked.

“Yes, that’s correct,” I said.

We both laughed.

“Go ahead and book it,” Lubbers said.

Grand Valley State was the power in NCAA Division II football at the time, having won four national titles from 2002-06, but in a shocker, the Bulldogs went into Allendale, Michigan, and edged the Lakers 19-13 in double overtime in the national quarterfinals on Nov. 29, 2008.

Lubbers covered that game because it aligned with his annual Thanksgiving trips home to Michigan. He stayed on the Bulldogs’ beat one more week as I watched UMD trounce California (Pennsylvania) 45-7 on Dec. 6 from a bar in downtown Las Vegas. Then it was my turn.

“For UMD to play that late, wouldn’t they have to get past Grand Valley State?” Lubbers asked.

“Yes, that’s correct,” I said.

We both laughed.

“Go ahead and book it,” Lubbers said.

I was a frequent flyer that year, and the next week I was off to Florence, Alabama, for the NCAA Division II national title game.

It was a different time, when the newspaper business was still trying to grasp the impact of the internet, throwing ideas out there to see what would stick. Add the Great Recession into the mix, and I was just glad I got to go out there.

Rather than covering the press conferences and cranking out two or three stories each day in the traditional way, we scaled back on print a little bit. We pushed a live blog where fans could ask me questions at all hours about the mood of the team, the festive and welcoming atmosphere down in Florence and, of course, what I had to eat (found a great Cajun restaurant, by the way). It was fun, just a little different.

I remember late the night before the big game. The hotel was silent when I finally signed off on the live blog with a reference to “The Night Before Christmas.” Yes, not a creature was stirring. It was that quiet.

Minnesota Duluth downed Northwest Missouri State 21-14 the next day as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-0 lead after Isaac Odim’s touchdown run early in the fourth quarter before the Bearcats made it interesting with a pair of touchdowns.

That set the stage for a climactic finish, and made my story unique. Northwest Missouri State attempted an onside kick, and I described how one of my favorite Bulldogs, linebacker Robbie Aurich, had eyes the size of “ostrich eggs” as the football tumbled his way.

He missed.

Fortunately, his teammate Luke Schalekamp pounced on the football as the Bulldogs secured their first national championship. They’d win a second national title just two years later, but as they say, nothing beats the first time.

Record-setting quarterback Ted Schlafke got the biggest laugh when afterward he said: “I guess this has got to mean that we’re not a hockey school anymore.”

I’ll never forget the hectic aftermath.

While we had photographers shoot the game for us, I was in charge of everything else. I shot video, took photos and recorded the post-game press conference. And oh yeah, I had a story to write.

All of this takes time, of course, and it was time I didn’t have. In a get-in-the-chopper moment, I had UMD sports information director Bob Nygaard yelling at me: “Jon, we’ve got to go. Now!”

A blizzard was coming, and the team wanted to beat it back home. With a charter, the sooner you get on, the sooner you go.

I filed my story and literally ran with Nygaard to the rental car, stuffing papers and cords into my computer bag as we went. Sweat beads formed across my forehead. Finally, in the car, with Nygs driving us to the airport, I could relax. A short time later, we were in flight.

Lubbers, my boss, said my story was great, the proverbial case of “stepping up” when it mattered, and I got first place in Minnesota for a sports story that year for papers our size.

Obviously, the subject matter helps. It was a storybook ending, indeed. There were 160 teams in NCAA Division II football, and I was fortunate and proud to say I got to cover the best one.

This was a celebration.

Not long after the plane took off, the Bulldogs put in a request, and the flight crew obliged. “Sweet Home Alabama” blared through the plane’s PA system, and the entire team sang along.

“Play some Skynyrd” never sounded so good. u