FAYETTE, Iowa - The Peacock (5-2, 3-1 GLVC) defense didn't allow any points and held Southwest Baptist (Mo.) (3-4, 2-3 GLVC) to a season-low 36 rushing yards in Saturday's 39-2 victory. Jayden Gordon led the Peacock offense on the ground with a career-high 99 yards and two touchdowns.
After getting a three-and-out on the opening drive, the Peacocks scored on their first offensive play with a 28-yard rushing touchdown by Gordon. On the next Bearcat possession, graduate linebacker Trevor Thompson notched his first interception of the season.
That set up Nathan Behne for a 49-yard field goal attempt, which was good to mark a career-long for the sophomore at the time. After another SBU three-and-out, the Peacocks scored again with another 28-yard rushing touchdown from Gordon.
That first-quarter explosion gave the Peacocks an early 17-0 advantage after the first 15 minutes of play. UIU outgained Southwest Baptist 123-47 in the first quarter, with Gordon totaling 80 yards on the ground.
Upper Iowa's longest drive in the game was in the second quarter, starting with a 28-yard run by Damon Head Jr. for his longest of the contest. The Peacocks had seven plays inside the red zone to end the drive, but eventually found paydirt with a one-yard tush push touchdown from Darryl Overstreet Jr.
Behne's extra point attempt was blocked and returned for an SBU two-point conversion, making the score 23-2. Behne didn't let it faze him, as he hit a career-long 51-yard field goal with 1:48 left in the half to give the Peacocks a 26-2 advantage.
After a scoreless and penalty-filled third quarter, Upper Iowa found the endzone again in the fourth quarter on a jump pass touchdown to tight end Eddie Burgess. Clark Coleman scored on a 24-yard quarterback scramble with 1:47 left to make it 39-2.
Upper Iowa's defense ended the game with one more bang. Redshirt freshman Daniel Robinson strip-sacked Southwest Baptist's Shade Foster, and Logan Wright jumped on the ball to get the final stop of the game.
UIU won the turnover battle 3-0. Wes Willis jumped on a bad snap in the second quarter for a fumble recovery. It was one of three bad snaps for the Bearcats on the day.
The Peacocks outrushed the Bearcats, 272-36, but Southwest Baptist had the advantage in passing, 210-170. Upper Iowa held Southwest Baptist to 2-of-15 on third downs while the Peacocks were 7-of-15 on third downs.
Overstreet Jr. finished the game 19-of-26 (73.1%) with 170 yards and a touchdown. Lonny Melvin Jr. led the team in receiving with two catches for 48 yards. Koda Gates-Bridges had a team-high five catches for 34 yards. Burgess finished with four catches for 36 yards.
Gordon's 99 yards came on 15 carries (6.6 per carry). He also had three catches for 35 yards. Calvin Swinney had a season-high 87 rushing yards on nine attempts (9.7 per carry). Head Jr. finished with seven carries for 57 yards (8.1 per carry).
Tade Parsons led the Peacock defense with nine tackles (six solo). Thompson, Yashua Pettis-Taylor and Evan Dorn all had seven tackles with three solo. Gavin Sweeney, Demontay Mack, Shaquille Roman and Robinson each had a sack.
The four total sacks were the second-most in a game by UIU's defense this season, one behind the total against South Dakota Mines. The Peacocks had 11 tackles-for-loss, the most for the team in a game this season.
This was the first loss for the Bearcats this season by more than one score. Southwest Baptist entered the game with the second-best scoring offense in the GLVC, averaging 35.7 points per game. SBU's rushing offense also ranked second in the conference entering Saturday's contest.
Two points is the lowest amount scored against Upper Iowa since 2013 when the team shut out Minnesota Crookston in that season's opener.
The Peacocks are back on the road next week in Liberty, Missouri, vs. William Jewell (2-5, 0-4 GLVC). The Cardinals fell by 28 points to Northeastern State (Okla.) (4-3) in a nonconference homecoming matchup on Saturday.
