UND’s Bo Belquist enters record books with win over Idaho State – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS – UND quarterback Simon Romfo completed a 12-yard pass to receiver Bo Belquist to give the Fighting Hawks a first down on the second drive of Saturday’s game against Idaho State.

With this catch – Belquist’s first of the game – he now has 217 career catches, the most in UND’s Division I era. Belquist passed Greg Hardin, who previously held the record with 216.

“It’s pretty cool,” Belquist said after UND’s 52-28 win over the Bengals. “Obviously, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, and I don’t think it will really happen until I’m probably done playing here and looking back on it. But right now, it feels pretty good. I’m more happy that we just won and we’re ready to move on to next week.”

Belquist finished the game with eight catches, bringing his career total to 224. He needs 20 more catches to pass Weston Dressler and set UND’s all-time career record for catches (243).

The fifth-grader from New Rockford, ND, totaled 165 yards, a career-high, in the Hawks’ second win of the season, the most in a UND game since Hardin had 11 catches for 179 yards against UC Davis on Nov. 16, 2013.

Belquist’s day was beneficial for the Hawks’ passing game overall. Romfo, making his third career start, completed 25 of 38 passes for 287 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Belquist’s 56-yard catch midway through the second quarter – which set up running back Sawyer Seidl’s first career touchdown – was a big hit for Romfo, who spent most of the day throwing short passes.

“It was underthrows early in the game,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “Then we threw some deep throws to Bo, and I think that really helped us, got us going and gave us a lot of confidence.”

Belquist also reached the end zone with a 17-yard catch from Romfo, a play that UND has come to expect from the star receiver.

“He’s very hard to catch,” Schweigert said. “He’s got a great fighting spirit and isn’t happy when he’s close to the goal line. You really see the heart of a fighter in those plays and some skill as well. He’s very tricky and hard to catch. There were a couple of others today where he moved the chains and he was really good in open space.

“I remember one of his best moments ever, a few years ago in Northern Arizona. We couldn’t really see it from the field, but he made it into the end zone. It was similar this time. You just think, ‘Hey, he’s not going to make it,’ and then he ends up in the end zone.”

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

Romfo’s 287 yards marked a career high for the junior. It was also more yards than UND threw in a game last season. Former quarterback Tommy Schuster’s season high was 285 yards passing against Indiana State on Oct. 28, 2023.

Romfo’s day marks the most passing yards in a game for UND since Schuster threw for 292 yards against Abilene Christian on Oct. 29, 2022.

“I think (Romfo) does a really good job every game,” Belquist said. “He’s shown a drastic improvement in the passing game. I feel like he’s starting to get more comfortable. We had to throw the ball short a lot during the game because they weren’t playing along, and I think that’s helped him find his role.”