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Records
Upper Iowa (1-0) || Minnesota Crookston (0-1)
Recap
The Peacock football team opened their 2013 campaign in impressive style on the road with a 47-0 victory at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Upper Iowa took a 27-0 lead into halftime and kept the intensity up thanks to tough defense and explosive offense in the second half.
Jordan Andera returned the opening kickoff 80 yards setting up the Peacocks with a first and goal at the 10-yard line. If the return was a foreshadow of what was to come, then the next two possessions for UIU did everything to hold it off. After the huge return, the Peacock offense went three and out and missed a 29-yard field goal. On the team's next possession, a 29-yard field goal was blocked after a 68-yard drive stalled at the 12-yard line.
The Peacocks did not let doubt enter in. Linebacker
Alex Wahl recovered a fumble at the UMC 24-yard line and this time running back
Chris Smith took a handoff and raced into the endzone from 14 yards away to put the visitors on the scoreboard first.
After the UIU defense got the ball back again, quarterback
Cole Jaeschke found
Shay Gutman for the first of three touchdowns between the pair of juniors. The 19-yard strike came as time expired in the first quarter.
Upper Iowa added two more touchdowns in the second quarter. The first came when Jaeschke hit tight end
Lucas Hefty for one of two touchdowns for the tandem on the night. The 32-yard hookup came with 11:32 on the clock. The second score of the quarter came after
Jerrod Watkins intercepted a UMC pass into the endzone. The scoring drive was highlighted by a 43-yard scamper by Smith and was capped off by the second Jaeschke to Gutman connection in the endzone from 6 yards out. The extra point was blocked giving UIU their 27-0 lead at the break.
Upper Iowa scored the final twenty points of the contest in the third quarter. The first score came on a single play as Smith scored from 11-yards following a bad snap on a punt try deep in the Golden Eagles end. After another three and out by the Peacock defense, Jaeschke and Gutman got together on a 52-yard pass and catch giving the road team a 40-0 lead following a missed extra point.
The final score came when Jaeschke connected with Hefty for a 70-yard touchdown on 3rd and short midway through the quarter.
Key Stats
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As potent as the offense was, the Peacock defense set the tone on the night pitching the team's first shutout since Sept. 14, 1994 when UIU shutout the Spartans of the University of Dubuque 30-0.
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UMC's offense gained only 61 yards of total offense while being held to -43 yards on the ground.
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The Peacocks outgained the Golden Eagles 565 to 61 in total offense.
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Minnesota Crookston (32:33) possessed the ball for five-plus minutes more than Upper Iowa (27:27).
Standouts
Cole Jaeschke threw for 292 yards and 5 touchdowns on 17 completions in 26 attempts. The touchdown count for Jaeschke matched his career high which came last year at the University of Sioux Falls.
Lucas Hefty was the main target as the tight end pulled in 6 catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
Shay Gutman pulled in four receptions for 90 yards and three touchdowns. On the ground, UIU picked up 122 yards from junior back
Chris Smith; Smith crossed the goalline twice to account for the final two UIU touchdowns.
UIU's defense recorded 14 tackles for loss including 6 sacks against the Golden Eagle offense.
Tate Thompson (7 tackles and .5 tackles for loss), Branden Owen (6 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss),
Ethan Douglas (5 tackles and 1.5 sacks) adn
Thomas Lueck (5 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss) led the way, while
Jerrod Watkins intercepted a pass and
Alex Wahl recovered a fumble. The front line and linebackers for UIU kept the heat on the UMC quarterback for all four quarters.
Sounding Off
Following the game, Joe Stasi, the voice of UIU Football, caught up with Head Coach
Tom Shea.
on the rough start for the Peacocks with two trips into the redzone and no points...
"We had two missed opportunities early and against a good ball club we won't be able to get around that so we'll address that at practice this week."
the offense...
"Cole and the receivers did a good job taking what the defense gave them in the passing game and the running game helped to open up the air attack. Chris Smith was back in form tonight and did a good job running the ball and I was pleased with Evan Dornink as well; he ran hard on the inside."
third down percentage tonight...
"We talked about that before the game that we need to dominate the possession downs and we need to convert 50-60 percent of those if you're going to win against great opponents."
the defense...
"The defense played hard and hustled for four quarters. We had great effort and they really ran to the ball tonight. Defense did a great job moving around, blitzing and breaking on the ball well. We missed a few tackles,but the kids ran to the ball hard tonight. Watching the film, I think the coaches will see that Tom Nesvik played a whale of a game. Jordan Andera and Ethan Douglas also played really well all night."
on the kicking game tonight...
"Cameron Vinsand did a nice job in the punting game for us and had some nice kicks tonight to give us an advantage in hidden yards. I am a little dissapointed in our field goal/point after team, but we have the ability to be solid here we just need to work and clean up some things."
next week's opponent...
"UMD has two NCAA Championships and they are the standard that our league measures themselves by to reach the NCAA postseason. We need to put it all on the line next week and put together a solid four quarters next Saturday."
Next Up
The Peacocks will now return home to host the #11 Bulldogs of the University of Minnesota Duluth at Harms-Eischeid Stadium in Fayette next Saturday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. Upper Iowa will be celebrating Take A Kid to the Game, an NCAA Football initiative that will allow all kids under the age of 14 to attend the game for free. Gates will open at 4 p.m. and youth day activities will begin at that time and run until kickoff.
