Much the like Dixie Cups in their hit 1964 song, the Fighting Sioux offense spent the day going to the Chappell.

Again. And again. And again.

Sophomore running back Ryan Chappell (Grand Forks) ran for a school-record 306 yards and a pair of touchdowns in UND’s 35-28 North Central Conference win over Central Washington today in front of a Potato Bowl crowd of 10,743.

Second-ranked UND improves to 3-0 (1-0 NCC), while the Wildcats fall to 1-1.

Chappell’s 59-yard run late in the fourth quarter not only erased Phillip Moore’s nine-year old record from the books, but it also set up Brandon Brady’s (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) game-winning one-yard touchdown run with 2:18 left in the game. Brady’s score put the finishing touches on a wild fourth quarter that saw each team score 14 points over the game’s final 12 minutes.

Chappell, meanwhile, scored on runs of 37 and 33 yards on UND’s first two possessions, setting an early tone for his record-setting day en route to a personal-high 28 carries. Chappell and the rest of the Sioux ran for 378 yards on the day and racked up 579 yards of total offense, the third time in as many games UND has put up more than 500 yards of offense.

The Sioux appeared to be in control after the two early touchdowns, but Central Washington got on the board on a two-yard pass from Mike Reilly to Chris Rohrbach with 1:35 left in the first quarter to cut the lead in half. It was also the first scored allowed by the Sioux at home this year in nearly five quarters.

UND regained its 14-point lead 4:25 into the third quarter when Danny Freund (Jr., Kenosha, Wis.) connected with Weston Dressler (Sr., Bismarck, N.D.) on a 45-yard pass and run play, the first of two Dressler scores on the day.

But as would be the case all day, the Wildcats refused to go quietly. Reilly found Spevak on a six-yard scoring strike with just 2:46 gone in the second half, then tied the game early in the fourth quarter when he found Jared Bronson behind the Sioux defense on a curl route. Bronson turned it into an 83-yad scoring play, outrunning a pair of Sioux defenders to the end zone and kicking off the fourth quarter fireworks.

UND grabbed the lead back just over five minutes later, on another Freund-to-Dressler bomb. Dressler hauled in a finger-tip grab on a corner route and fought off a Wildcat defender along the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown reception.

Yet the Wildcats had another answer on their following possession, taking advantage of good field position set up by a 36-yard Reggie Ford kickoff return. Nine plays later CWU running back Johnny Lopez found the end zone from four yards out, pulling the Wildcats even with 3:59 remaining.

Chappell returned the ensuing kickoff 22 yards, and on the very first play from scrimmage broke off his 59-yard scamper to set up the winning score.

Freund went 11-for-21 for 201 yards and the two touchdowns for the Sioux and was intercepted once. Dressler was his favorite target, hauling in eight passes for 173 yards, one shy of his career high.

Reilly paced a Wildcat offense that put up 447 yards of offense of their own. The junior finished 32-of-49 for 340 yards and three touchdowns. Bronson caught six passes for 121 yards, while Spevak made 10 grabs for 90 yards.

The Sioux offense managed to sack Reilly four times and hurry him on three other occasions.

UND now prepares for next Saturday’s tilt at Western Washington, which was defeated earlier today at Nebraska-Omaha.

Notes: Chappell now has 19 career rushing touchdowns, tying him with Tom Biolo (1977-80) for 10th place on UND’s all-time list ... Dressler moved past Shannon Burnell (1990-93) and into second place on UND’s all-time all-purpose yardage list with 5,561. Moore holds the record with 5,857 ... CWU’s 28 points were the most allowed by the Sioux at home since a 38-35 win over Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 1, 2003 ... UND has now won 31 of its last 32 games at the Alerus Center ... UND’s Hall of Fame Class of 2007 was recognizd at halftime. Former linebacker Andy Dahlen and the 1979 team are among the inductees.

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