Upper Iowa scored a touchdown on their first and last possessions in tonight's NSIC cross-division battle at St. Cloud State University.  The Peacocks never trailed in the game although the Huskies tied the score at 7, 24 and 31 points.   A 19-yard touchdown run off the left side by Chris Smith gave UIU a 37-31 lead with five seconds to play in the fourth quarter.  The win marked UIU's second win ever against St. Cloud State; the first came by a 23-20 score in 1949.  With the win, Upper Iowa improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 1964 season.  Over the last three seasons, the Peacocks are now 9-3 against the NSIC North.

In the last three meetings between the two teams, the Huskies have posted a victory by an average of 32.6 points.  But on this night in central Minnesota, Upper Iowa was the team in control and on the rise.  Just one season since St. Cloud State not only qualified for the NCAA Super Regional, but reached the regional finals, the Peacocks took control early and never lost their grip of the lead.  The win will serve as a benchmark for the program in years to come as a signature win and its effect will still be felt years from now.  St. Cloud State University has over 16,000 students on campus compared to Upper Iowa's 1,058 total enrollment.  As a reference point for Peacock fans; the Univesity of Northern Iowa has a total enrollment of 12,159.

Smith ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns adding four catches for 44 yards as this week's reigning NSIC Offensive Player of the Week.  His scoring runs came from 3, 14 and 19 yards and each time broke a tie (0-0, 24-24, 31-31) and gave the Peacocks the lead.  Smith went over 200 yards for the second time this season and eighth time in his career.  For the season, Smith now has rushed for 690 yards on 95 carries with 13 touchdowns.

Quarterback Cole Jaeschke connected with six different receivers while completing 29 of his 38 passes.  Jaeschke registered a pair of touchdowns and interceptions in the game while accounting for 280 yards through the air.

Smith capped off a 6-play, 75-yard drive on UIU's opening possession with a 3-yard run giving UIU a 7-0 lead.  The Huskies fired back quickly with a touchdown to tie and looked as if they were heading in for a second score, but UIU made a big play on defense when Dakota Basten recovered a fumble at the UIU 2-yard line.  Both offenses remained quiet until the second quarter.  The St. Cloud defense intercepted Jaeschke twice in the first half, but the redshirt senior found Trey MacTaggart from 12-yards out to put UIU back ahead by seven, 14-7, less than two minutes into the quarter.  Near the end of the first half, Tim Rueb attempted and converted his first field goal (19 yards) of the season for a 17-7 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the Huskies scored on their first chance pulling within three, 17-14, but the Peacocks answered quickly when Jaeschke found Derek Giesking for a 20-yard strike that pushed UIU's lead back to ten, 24-14.

SCSU's Ledell White, who rushed for 129 yards, scored his second touchdown of the quarter on a 67-yard run to bring the home team back within three, 24-21, less than a minute prior to the fourth quarter.  "They came out and did a lot of good things early in that second half," said Head Coach Tom Shea. "That running back [White] is a great player; he had a great game. We just had to keep fighting."

A punt team miscue to open the fourth, came back to get Upper Iowa.  St. Cloud State took over the ball at the Peacock 9-yard line less than a minute into the final frame.  UIU's defense held strong and only surrendered three points on the possession as the game was tied at 24-24.

Smith put the Peacocks ahead by seven once again, 31-24, with less than seven minutes to play when he ran between key blocks from Nathan Cato and Casey Beck from 14 yards away.

St. Cloud State was up to the challenge and answered with a long drive that resulted in a fumble recovery in the end zone by White for his third score of the game.  He fell on a fumble by the Husky quarterback and tied the game at 31-31 with 2:50 to play in the game.

UIU's gamewinning drive began at the 25-yard line after a touchback, but Jaeschke hit Shay Gutman on the first play for a nine-yard gain to put the chains in motion.  Jaeschke hit Derek Giesking twice around a couple of Smith runs to set up the Peacocks with a 1st and 10 from the SCSU 37-yard line.  A pass interference call pushed the line of scrimmage 15 yards closer and after a Smith run, UIU called a timeout to decide what to do in the waning seconds.  UIU's record-breaking running back took the ball off the left side for 19 yards and ran through a pair of defenders at the goal line for the score with 5 seconds on the clock.

Alex Wahl led the Peacock defense with 10 tackles, while Tyler Fisher added 9 including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.  Jeff Arends and Tate Thompson registered 7 and 6 tackles,respectively in the secondary.

Following the signature victory, Coach Shea said, "I just told the guys how proud I was of them; the way they fight is incredible. This team has so much heart. Going into that last drive we just had to stay calm and not panic. We took what the defense gave us and Marty [Higgins] did a great job calling the game tonight. We did what we needed to tonight by going down the field with two minutes left to win the game.  St. Cloud is a good football team and they are just going to get better. We knew this team wasn't going away; they are a top 4 team year in and year out. This is a great win for us."

Now that the NSIC cross-division games are complete, a look at the standings show that the NSIC South won 22 of the 32 games against the NSIC North.  There are still three teams in the south that are undefeated at 4-0 including the Peacocks, Sioux Falls and Minnesota State, as well as, two teams that are 3-1, Winona State and Augustana, with their losses coming at the hands of the only undefeated team in the north, Minnesota Duluth.

The Peacocks will welcome the Vikings of Augustana College to Fayette next weekend.  Upper Iowa and Augustana will play under the lights of Harms-Eischeid Stadium on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. as part of Upper Iowa's Homecoming Weekend.