Cardinal ground game mashes Spuds, 34-14

By Kerry Collins
The Fargo Forum

These Cardinals are flightless, and they love it.
Alexandria used a punishing ground game to pile up 386 rushing yards on the way to a 34-14 victory over Moorhead at Jim Gotta Stadium on Friday.
That's pretty normal for us, said quarterback Dillon Kelly, who rushed for 83 yards and a score. Everybody knows it's always going to be a run, and they still can't stop it if we get on a roll.
Nathan Kelly and Jack Trebelhorn had 25 carries apiece for Alexandria (3-2). Nathan Kelly finished with 141 yards and two TDs, while Trebelhorn had 134 yards and a score.
The Cardinals led 14-7 at halftime and started the third quarter with a 15-play, 87-yard charge that ended with a 1-yard scoring plunge by Kelly.
The drive chomped 6 minutes, 30 seconds off the clock. Alexandria had the ball for 17:10 of the final 24 minutes. Its first 27 plays of the second half were runs.
They do a good job mixing it up and they are very physical up front, Moorhead coach Rick Eidsness said. They kept pounding it, and we couldn't stop it. They really took it to us.
The bulk of the runs were up the middle, as the three interior linemen were getting tremendous pushes all night.
For example, the Cardinals averaged 5.1 yards per carry on their six quarterback sneaks.
"That's our deadliest weapon," Dillon Kelly joked. Our line works so hard on their strength every one of them squats like crazy. They get a great push every time."
As if the Alexandria needed any help, they got it in the form of a couple key Moorhead (2-3) injuries.
The biggest hit came in the loss of Eric Dowling. The senior standout pinched a nerve in his neck on the last play of last weeks win over Fergus Falls and aggravated the injury in practice this week.