The Upper Iowa football team used solid play on offense, defense and special teams to earn a 17-6 win over Northern State University in the teams' season and Northern Sun Conference opener on Saturday.  The Peacocks came into their 2015 season opener against Northern State University with a lot of questions after the departure of one of the most successful classes last season that led the Peacocks to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in fifty years.  While the offense is filled with new faces, the defense for UIU is experienced and it showed on the field against the Wolves.

Northern State was the first team on the scoreboard thanks to a 41-yard field goal late in the first quarter, but Upper Iowa took the lead with ten minutes to play in the half when new UIU quarterback Dimitri Morales found Trey MacTaggart near the sideline.  MacTaggart then took over and powered his way into the endzone thanks to a stiff arm inside the 10-yard line.  The 20-yard pass and catch led the home team to a 7-3 lead. Brady Beuschel made it 10-3 with a 24-yard field goal late in the half, but the Wolves answered on a 42-yard try to pull back within four, 10-6, heading to the locker rooms.

In the third and fourth quarters, Upper Iowa turned the ball over once on a fumble and on downs three times including once at NSU's 7-yard line.  The Peacock defense continued to hold creating three turnovers of their own on interceptions.  Marcus McCoy snared a tipped pass by Darius Cohen, Cohen pulled down a fade route in the endzone and then Alex Wahl slid into the middle to intercept a crossing route late in the fourth. The final score of the game came with just under three minutes to play in the game when Morales kept the ball and ran off the right tackles hip from two yards out.  The score and extra point from Beuschel gave UIU a 17-6 lead and the eventual win.

Upper Iowa's defense played well together with three separate players registering interceptions and seven players recording at least 4 tackles led by Wahl's 10 stops, three for loss, and Cole Stephen's 8 tackles.  Northern State was only able to convert 12 first downs, while generating 235 yards of total offense.  UIU's defense was able to stay fresh in the heat thanks to a ten-minute advantage in time of possession (35:25 to 24:35).  The drastic time of possession differential came in large part to the teams' success on third down.  NSU converted just 4 of their 14 third downs, while UIU moved the chains on 11 of their 23 third down opportunities.  

The Peacock offense, which recorded 24 first downs and 419 yards of total offense, was led by Morales, who completed 33 of his 46 passes for 349 yards and a touchdown.  Jalen Amis pulled in 9 passes for 47 yards, while Jarred Edmonds had 7 catches for 105 yards.  MacTaggart pulled in six balls for 95 yards including a 51-yard hook-up and David Esswein grabbed 5 catches for 62 yards.  When the Peacocks weren't throwing the ball, they were running it with one of four different backs.  Greg Lewis got the most carries with 15 for 28 yards, while Joe McCaffery picked up the most yards (39) and Vincent Otdoerfer had the highest yards per carry (4).

Aidan Krupka accounted for both field goals for the Wolves; he converted from 41 and 42 yards out.  Devin Olson led Northern State's defense with 15 tackles including 2.5 for loss and a forced fumble.

With the win, Upper Iowa improved to 10-3 against the NSIC North Division with its last loss in a cross division game coming against the University of Minnesota Duluth in Fayette on Sept. 14, 2013.  The Peacocks have earned the win in seven straight games agains the NSIC North.

Next Saturday, the team will head to familiar grounds for Head Coach Tom Shea.  Shea is a former head coach at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.  The Peacocks and Marauders will kick off at 1 p.m. on Sept. 12.