Upper Iowa defeated Winona State University 35-21 in Winona, Minn. on Saturday afternoon fueled by quarterback
Dimitri Morales' five touchdowns and a stubborn defense that didn't allow their hosts to convert on possession downs. The victory marked UIU's first win over the Warrior football program in their 12th meeting. Upper Iowa is now 5-2 overall and 2-1 against the NSIC South, while Winona State drops to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the division.
In their previous 11 matchups, the Warriors had outscored the Peacocks 430-168. Upper Iowa came close in 2012 taking a fourth quarter lead only to lose a close 45-42 decision on Homecoming, but the Warriors had claimed wins by scores of 48-32 and 38-19 the last two years.
It was a different story today. The Peacocks scored first when Morales capped off a six-play drive that covered 52 yards with a 2-yard touchdown scamper. After the Warriors tied the score at 7-7, Upper Iowa put 21 points on the scoreboard without and answer to claim a 28-7 advantage midway through the second quarter.
With just under two minutes to play in the first quarter, Morales raced over the goal line from four yards away for his second score on the ground. The quarterback's touchdown run finished off a four-play drive that was highlighted by a 62-yard connection with wideout
Cameron Lee. Morales found
Jalen Amis in the back of the endzone early in the second quarter and followed it up with a touchdown pass to
Jarred Edmonds to close out another four-play drive.
Trailing 28-7, the Warriors turned to their quarterback Jack Nelson and running back Paul Preston. Preston capped off a 92-yard drive that only took five plays with a touchdown run from a yard out to bring the home team within two scores heading to the locker room for halftime.
Winona State cut the margin to just seven, 28-21, early in the third quarter as Preston made quick work of a three-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Upper Iowa put the final points on the board midway through the third quarter when Morales fired his third touchdown pass of the afternoon. He found
Trey MacTaggart for the 11-yard score giving the Peacocks back their two-score advantage, 35-21.
After the Warriors touchdown, which came on their first possession of the second half, the Peacock defense locked down WSU. Upper Iowa forced a fumble, a turnover on downs, a punt, two interceptions and a second turnover of downs on WSU's final six turns with the ball prior to the final drive ending when the clock struck zero.
For the game, Upper Iowa only allowed Winona State to convert 3 of 15 third downs and 3 of 6 fourth downs. The defense was led by
Alex Wahl, who recorded 12 tackles, including 7 solo and 3 tackles for loss. Fellow linebacker
Cole Stephen had 8 tackles, while
Nick Corley added 7,
Tate Thompson and
Jevell Rollins each had 5 and three more Peacocks came up with 4 stops.
Darius Cohen and
Marcus McCoy each claimed their third interception of the season, while UIU also recorded three sacks (
Derek Hurschman,
Dakota Basten and Rollins and
Joe Busch shared one).
Morales completed 32 of his 42 passes for 378 yards and 3 touchdowns while running for 39 yards and a pair of scores. Lee caught 5 balls for 127 yards, while Amis caught 11 passes for 86 yards and a score. Amis now has 65 catches for the year for an average of over 9 per game; he has reached double figures in three conitests. MacTaggart pulled in 9 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown and Edmonds had 5 catches for 54 yards and one score.
Derrick Portis rushed 21 times for 66 yards.
Brady Beuschel nailed all five of his extra point attempts and
Nate Skare averaged 38.4 yards on his 8 punts.
Upper Iowa will host the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. inside Harms-Eischeid Stadium on the Univeristy's Family Weekend.
