The Upper Iowa Peacock football team capped off Hall of Fame Weekend in style by scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter to rally from a two-score deficit and upset the No. 11 Warriors of Winona State University. The Northern Sun South Division shootout featured a little bit of everything with big plays from both teams in every phase from special teams to defense to offense. The win marked UIU's first win of the season, the first win over Winona State at Harms-Eischeid Stadium and the first victory over a nationally-ranked opponent since Upper Iowa moved to NCAA Division II. Winona State who entered the game undefeated, falls to 2-1, while UIU improves to 1-2.
 
The Peacocks held a 14-9 lead at halftime after a pair of Peacock touchdowns during the first two quarters. Antoine Conner scored UIU's first touchdown on a four-yard run in the first quarter following a fumble recovery by Kyle Domin off a muffed punt deep in Warrior territory. The second score came on a corner route from Brent Lammers to Skyler Lehman from the eight-yard line. The score capped off a 20-play, 75-yard drive that took over eight minutes off the game clock.
 
Winona State came out of the break and owned the third quarter scoring 18 unanswered points on a pair of Owen Burke to Isaiah Frandsen touchdown passes of 59 and 25 yards and a Paul Ortiz 40-yard field goal.
 
As the game moved the fourth quarter, the Peacocks found themselves on the wrong side of a 27-14 score. Upper Iowa put together another long scoring drive to pull within six, 27-21. The drive started on their own 37-yard line after the defense forced a punt and covered 63 yards in 14 plays. Lammers completed five passes on the drive to three different receivers and found Alexander Stevens at the goal line on fourth and goal from the 11-yard line. Stevens pulled the ball in under heavy pressure and then fought into the end zone to get the home team within one score.
 
The Warriors were quick to answer using a big kick return and a 23-yard touchdown run by Sam Santiago-Lloyd. Ahead 33-21 after the score, Winona State elected to try for two points to increase their advantage to a pair of touchdowns, but after a penalty moved the attempt to the seven-yard line, the pass attempt failed and the lead stayed at 12 points.
 
In Upper Iowa ensuing possession, Lammers connected with four different receivers and completed eight passes including four for first downs and one on a fourth and ten. Lammers found Bralin Simon dragging across the field for a 15-yard hook up to give the Peacocks a fresh set of downs. The Peacock quarterback found Lehman on his last two completions of the drive including a 10-yard pass over the middle to the back of the endzone for Lehman's second score of the game. UIU could not connect on their point after attempt on a high snap and found themselves down six, 33-27, with a little over five minutes to play.
 
After allowing one first down, the Peacock defense stood tall and forced a punt giving the home team the ball at their own 33-yard line with 2:15 showing on the clock. Upper Iowa faced a fourth down quickly after three straight incomplete attempts. The Peacocks went deep into the playbook and found a little razzle-dazzle to gain a first down and a huge chunk of yards.
 
Backup quarterback Jake Schuman snuck into the huddle unnoticed and took a backwards screen pass from Lammers only to turn around and throw it back to Lammers on the east side of the field with a convoy of blockers in front of him. The 22-yard gain and subsequent personal foul on Winona State gave Upper Iowa the ball at the WSU 30-yard line. After a 20-yard catch by Brandyn Tulloch, Conner rumbled into the end zone for his second score of the night tying the score at 33-33. An extra point by Jonathon Argueta-Herrera pushed the Peacocks on top by one, 34-33, with 1:11 to play.
 
A great kick by Argueta-Herrera touched a Warrior on its way out of bounds and cornered WSU at their own six-yard line. Burke found Jake Balliu streaking down the middle of the field for a 41-yard pass to put Winona State at midfield, but on the next play Mitchel Siech stepped in front of a post route over the middle to intercept a pass and seal the upset for the Peacocks.
 
Lammers led the offense to 401 yards of total offense thanks to 269 passing yards and three touchdowns, as well as 39 yards rushing on 10 carries and one catch for 22 yards. Conner added 54 yards on the ground with two scores, while Jon Deprey and Bralin Simon chipped in 16 and 13 yards, respectively from the backfield. Lehman caught 8 passes for 76 yards and 2 scores, while Tulloch grabbed 6 catches for 53 yards, Stevens nabbed 5 for 33 yards, Keagan Pinter pulled in 4 balls for 43 yards, Simon added 3 catches for 45 yards and DJ Emsweller caught 3 passes for 19 yards before being sidelined after a hard hit.
 
Defensively, UIU was led by Siech's 10 tackles and interception and senior Jordan Rommes. Rommes, who moved from safety to linebacker in the off season, recorded 7 tackles including 3.5 tackles for loss; 1.5 of which were on sacks of Burke. UIU registered 4 sacks in the game with Garrett Johnston, Jesse Hynek and Christian Ruff getting in on the action. Johnston blocked his second kick of the year on a point-after attempt in the second quarter. Tanner Thompson and Isaac Barrett combined for 13 tackles in UIU's secondary.
 
Upper Iowa will take on the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University next Saturday, Sept. 22. The Peacocks and Mustangs will kick off at 1 p.m. from the Regional Event Center in Marshall, Minn.