2006 Aztec Bowl Statistics (pdf)

MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/18/06)--Concordia senior defensive tackle Tyler Ledyard (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) helped Team USA defeat the Mexican All-Star Team 28-7 in the annual DIII All-Star Game The Aztec Bowl.

Ledyard had three tackles and 0.5 tackles for a loss in helping the Team USA defense limit Team Mexico to 150 total offensive yards.

Official Aztec Bowl Summary:

AGUASCALIENTES, MEX. — Occidental quarterback Andy Collins threw for one touchdown and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass to lead the United States to a 28-7 win over Mexico at the 2006 Aztec Bowl at Estadio Victoria in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

On the night Collins completed 7-of-17 passes for 142 yards, including a 54-yard scoring toss to Augustana’s Mike Guzman. Collins surpassed the previous Team USA record for passing attempts and his yardage total was the second highest total in Team USA history. The scoring toss was also the longest pass completion in team history. The performance earned Collins Team USA MVP honors.

“It’s exciting when you can have that kind of night playing with this kind of talent,” Collins said. “I didn’t do this by myself.”

Defensively, Team USA limited Mexico to 150 yards in total offense, including just 38 yards in the second half. The total yardage is the third-lowest for Mexico against the U.S. in the series. DePauw’s Dustin Hertel led the way with nine tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.

The United States also got second half interceptions from Dubuque’s Walner Belleus, Christopher Newport’s Rob Rodriguez and Texas Lutheran’s Jake Robbins to stifle Mexico’s offense.

Team USA now leads the decade-old series 9-1 and has outscored Mexico 101-25 in the last three meetings.

“I think the biggest thing tonight was the fact the defense kept us in the game in the first half,” USA Head Coach Bill Manlove said. “Going to the no-huddle to start the second half changed the game for us. The three interceptions and the blocked punt helped too.”

After a scoreless first period, Collins hooked up with Guzman on a 54-yard catch and run after the Augustana back looped out of the backfield, hauled the pass in at the Mexico 43 and rumbled the rest of the way for the score.

Mexico answered with just 43 seconds to go before intermission when Alejandro Trejo slipped into the end zone from a yard out to knot the score at 7-7 heading into halftime.

“Mexico changed up and we couldn’t get in a rhythm in the first half,” Collins said. “We were thinking too much. We all know how to play, we just needed to go out there and do it.”

The United States answered that score on the opening series of the second half when North Central’s Kam Kniss orchestrated an eight play, 84-yard scoring drive that was capped off by a 35-yard pass from Kniss to John Carroll’s Joe Konrad to put the U.S. up 14-7. The no-huddle attack the USA implemented to start the half resulted in 21 points in a little more than one quarter of play.

Four minutes later Muskingum linebacker Jack Junker swooped in and deflected a punt by Mexico’s Hector
Garza to set Team USA up at Mexico’s 26-yard line. Two plays later Union’s Tom Arcidiacono scampered 18 yards into the end zone to extend the lead to 21-7 with 6:35 to go in the third.

Mexico’s next drive was its best of the second half as Rodrigo Perez, the career passing leader in Mexican college football, led his team 57 yards to the USA 23 before the Team USA defense silenced the predominantly pro-Mexican crowd of 16,000 by forcing Mexico to turn the ball over on downs.

Collins capped the scoring when he hauled in a 10-yard fourth-and-goal pass from Wisconsin-Stevens Point runningback Cody Childs on a twisting, turning, tumbling dive to give the United States a 28-7 lead with 11:18 to go in the game.

This year’s Aztec Bowl was the first since the death of long-time Team USA Head Coach and College Football Hall of Famer Ron Schipper earlier this year. The pregame ceremony included a moment of silence in Schipper’s honor.

“We were talking about Skip late in the game,” Manlove said. “We were all thinking about him. He was on all of our minds.”