Box Score The Upper Iowa football team trailed 30-14 heading into the final quarter of their home opener to the 2014 season. Minnesota State University Moorhead took their 16-point advantage into the locker room at halftime and while neither team scored in the third, seemed to have control of the ball game. But the Peacocks scored 23 unanswered points in just five minutes to grab a 37-30 lead midway through the final frame. After MSU Moorhead pulled within one, 37-36, UIU put a final score on the board with two minutes to play to push their lead to eight,
44-36. The Dragons pushed all the way to the Peacocks' 10-yard line, but their final drive ended short of the endzone on a fourth-down play that UIU was able to snuff out.
MSU Moorhead racked up 709 yards of total offense on the day, but a pair of fumbles forced by
Alex Wahl and
Tate Thompson and an interception by
Jeff Arends, gave the UIU offense the ball back quickly and held the Dragons at bay.
Chris Smith ran for 134 yards on 22 carries and caught 7 passes for 31 yards; the senior running back crossed the goalline four times on the ground to lead UIU's comeback. Quarterback
Cole Jaeschke completed 38 of 64 passes for 371 yards and two touchdowns (
Lucas Hefty and
Shay Gutman). Gutman pulled in 12 catches for 130 yards, while Hefty (116 yards) and
Keaton Hosch (66 yards) each snared 8 balls.
Wahl led the defense with 16 tackles including 3 for loss and a sack, while fellow linebacker
Zach Gardner made 11 tackles. Thompson also reached double figures with 10, while
Paul Yokas added 9 stops.
According to Head Coach Tom Shea..."It was a pretty quiet lockerroom. We just explained a talked about how you can't take things for granted. We needed to go play our game. We needed to go and forget that first half." "I'm gonna take a different approach. I think our game balls should go to our kickoff team. That whole fourth quarter they were starting inside their 20 yard line. That makes a difference when you make them have to go the whole length of the field."
"We finally ran the ball in the fourth quarter. That was a big factor to the comeback. I'm so proud of how these men fought all the way back."
"Cole got better as the game went on. He got more confident and in rhythm with the receivers. It takes awhile when you face no one but yourselves for the first month. He tried to do too much at times. When he just went out and played he did much better."
"Our defense bent but didn't break. They stepped in and they made the plays they needed to make. Tate Thompson made one of the biggest plays of the game. He forced that fumble and we were able to capatilize."
"There are definitely things we have to work on, and that's the best part. We can correct and come back and try to go 2-0."
Next Up...
The Peacocks will take the week to prepare for the Beavers of Minot State University. UIU and MSU will line up against each other on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 6 p.m. in Minot, N.D.
