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This is the week that IS for UMD athletics. Quite possibly there has never been as wild and crazy a weekend as the one coming up, with five different teams wearing the Bulldogs logo fills the sports pages.
   Ordinarily, the UMD men’s hockey team invading Mariucci Arena to face the No. 1 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers would be hogging the headlines, and deservedly so. Now that they are no longer in the same conference, UMD falls victim to the whims of the Big Ten Network, which is carrying the Minnesota-Wisconsin football game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Because of the obvious congestion problem, that means that instead of the normal Friday-Saturday series, the Gophers and Bulldogs will play Friday and Sunday.
   The women’s hockey team, which is eager to return to WCHA contention, faces a home-ice series against Bemidji State Friday and Saturday at AMSOIL Arena..
   But UMD’s pair of Division I hockey teams must relinquish the spotlight this weekend, because the Division II triumverate of football, volleyball and soccer have all vaulted into playoff mode to provide the fitting climax to a remarkable fall season. The No. 2 ranked volleyball team -- fresh from a scintillating 3-2 victory over No. 1 rated Concordia of St. Paul -- started the long weekend off with a Northern Sun Intercollegiate quarterfinal match against Sioux Falls on Wednesday night at Romano Gym. Next up comes an enormous Saturday-Sunday semifinal-final weekend at Concordia, which carries NCAA overtones.
   Slipping in under the media radar, unfortunately, comes the UMD women’s soccer team, which earned the right to play host to the NCAA Division II regional tournament at Malosky Stadium Friday and Sunday. Midwest Region’s No. 1 seed Grand Valley State faces No. 2 Quincy in a 1 p.m. contest, followed, at 2:30 p.m., by UMD, which is No. 2 in the Central Region, takes on No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State. Those two winners will meet at 1 p.m. Sunday at Malosky for the right to advance.
   Then there is the Bulldogs football team. With only an early-season loss to undefeated and top-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato, the 10-1 Bulldogs, No. 4 in the region, take over Malosky Stadium at 1 p.m. Saturday to face Emporia State, the region’s No. 5 team, in a trek that will consume four rounds before the NCAA Division II champion is crowned.
   There was never any guarantee that UMD’s football team would get a chance to embark on this second season, although after Senior Day against Minnesota-Crookston, defensive end Chris Vandervest -- one of 22 seniors on the roster and one of eight UMD all-Northern Sun players -- confided that he shared the feeling that the Bulldogs could win their last two road games and come back for one more game on Malosky’s friendly turf. If cold temperature is part of the home-field advantage, the ‘Dogs should be happy when Saturday delivers near-zero windchill figures.
   It might be that it took a bit of trickery to ignited the Bulldogs to their regular-season final victory at Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D. One of the neatest things first-year head coach Curt Wiese has done is to install, and use, a few trick plays. UMD was a little flat at the start of last Saturday’s game, and gave up an early touchdown before countering with a field goal by Andrew Brees. Quarterback Drew Bauer, whose running is as big a threat as his passing, had run for a touchdown in the second quarter to lift UMD to a slim 10-7 lead, and with just over a minute left in the first half, the Bulldogs were facing third down at the Northern State 15. Bauer was back in shotgun, with running back Austin Sikorski next to him, sophomore Justin Fowlkes was in the slot to the right as a wide receiver.
   “We were stumbling around a little offensively, and it was only a one-score game, so we decided to try it,” said Wiese. “We lined up in our basic formation, and Bauer comes up to the line of scrimmage as if to check off [with an audible], and just then we make a direct snap to Sikorsky, who takes off as if it’s a sweep, right to left. Some of their players were still on their knees, trying to figure out what kind of an audible we might be calling, and as they’re trying to react, Sikorsky pitches to Fowlkes on a reverse.”
   That might seem like trickery enough, but why stop there? Fowlkes, sprinting on what appears to be an end-around-reverse, instead throws a pass into the end zone, where, all alone, quarterback Bauer was waiting to catch the touchdown pass.
   “Bauer kind of got lost at the line of scrimmage,” Wiese said. “And if the defense is going to try to cover man-to-man, nobody is assigned to cover the quarterback anyway.”
   The Bulldogs went on to get the ball back and score another field goal for a sudden 19-7 halftime lead and went on to bury Northern State 39-7. The victory secured the NSIC North Division title outright for the berth in the NCAA D-II tournament.
   Emporia will provide a strong challenge for the Bulldogs, who have a senior-dominated team but with liberal input from underclassmen. The main senior emphasis is on defense, where Vandervelt is joined by Nate Zuk, Colby Ring, Chris Blake, Kenny Chowa and Travis Nordhus, plus Jordan Bauman, Wade Sebold, and Jason Carlson. Punter Alex Brown is also a senior.
   UMD should be back at full strength, with junior Sikorski getting his sophomore alternate Logan Lauters back after a weekend bout with the flu. Bauer, a talented freshman, has an able cast of receivers in Zach Zweifel, Aaron Roth, Joe Reichert, Fowlkes and tight ends Pat Alexander and Jeremy Reierson. Only Reichert, Alexander and Reierson are seniors among that crew. Of course, if there’s ever a shortage of pass-catchers, Wiese can always have somebody throw the ball to Bauer.