HOBART, Ind. - Upper Iowa football (9-3, 6-2 GLVC) won its first bowl game in the 132-year program history against Hillsdale (Mich.) (6-6, 5-4 G-MAC) on Saturday. The 37-28 victory gave the Peacocks a program record ninth victory to cap off the historic season. 

A pair of seniors earned Most Valuable Player honors for the Peacocks. Quarterback Darryl Overstreet Jr. was named the Offensive MVP after throwing for 331 yards and scoring three touchdowns. Defensive lineman Eddy Latanauskas was the Defensive MVP after totaling 1.5 sacks and nabbing an interception. 

After the Peacock defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive, Upper Iowa scored on its first offensive play of the game. After a flea flicker off a screen play to Koda Gates-Bridges, Overstreet Jr. found Lonny Melvin Jr. for a 41-yard touchdown to lead, 7-0.

Hillsdale responded on the next possession with a 26-yard rushing touchdown by Ben Ngishu, and converted a two-point conversion for the 8-7 advantage. 

The Peacocks then drove right down the field again, with Overstreet Jr. finding Mante Morrow for 41 yards down to the Hillsdale 32-yard line. A few plays later, Overstreet threw a touchdown pass to Logan Rosauer on a wheel route for a 13-yard touchdown and a 14-8 lead. 

On the next Charger possession, Latanauskas deflected a pass off of a Hillsdale offensive lineman's shoulder pads and then nabbed it off the bounce for the interception. That set up a 22-yard Nathan Behne field goal for the two-score lead, 17-8.

Hillsdale used a 12-play, 5:30 drive capped off by a rushing touchdown by quarterback Colin McKernan, cutting the lead to 17-15. A few possessions later, Overstreet Jr. went 5-of-5 on a possession with three completions to Gates-Bridges and the Peacocks capped off the drive with a Jayden Gordon 11-yard rushing touchdown. UIU led 24-15 at the half.

After a penalty-filled third quarter for the Peacocks, Hillsdale capitalized with a McKernan touchdown pass to Shea Ruddy. After the touchdown, the Peacocks answered once again with a 16-play 71-yard drive that took 8:19 off the clock. 

Overstreet Jr. capped off the long drive with a two-yard rushing touchdown with 8:24 left in the game. The Peacock quarterback was 5-of-7 on the drive and accounted for 42 of the team's 71 yards on the possession.

Key defensive plays by Tade Parsons, Avery Dixon, Shaquille Roman and Gavin Sweeney stopped the Chargers on the next two possessions. Demontay Mack had a sack for a two-yard loss. Roman and Sweeney combined for a sack to get a turnover on downs with 3:50 left.

Right before the two-minute timeout, Overstreet Jr. hit Morrow for one final deep ball. Morrow battled through a pass interference penalty for the 32-yard catch down to the one-yard line. Gordon knocked it in for a touchdown a few plays later to lead, 37-22. 

Ruddy, the D2CCA First Team All-Conference returner, housed the ensuing kickoff 97 yards. Gavin Sweeney kept it a two-score game by blocking the extra point to keep the score 37-28. Eddie Burgess recovered the onside kick and sealed the victory.

Overstreet Jr. finished the game 25-of-34 (73.5%) for 331 yards and two passing touchdowns. On the ground, he totaled 26 rushing yards and a touchdown. The senior quarter finished the season with 2,798 yards (fifth in program history) and his career with 7,547 yards (second in program history).

Morrow totaled 107 yards in the contest, breaking the 1,000-yard mark on the season with 1,007. He becomes just the third receiver in UIU history to accomplish this feat, joining Dwayne Croker with 1,023 yards in 2006 and Keaton Hsoch with 1,094 yards in 2012. Morrow wraps up his UIU career with 2,264 yards, the sixth-most in program history. 

Gordon was the team's leading rusher with 77 yards and two touchdowns. Burgess had seven catches for 57 yards, while Melvin Jr. totaled three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Gates-Bridges recorded six catches for 52 yards, and Angelo Butts had four for 42 yards. 

On defense, the Peacocks totaled five sacks, tying their season high. Latanauskas and Braden Powers each had 1.5 sacks. Mack, Roman and Yashua Pettis-Taylor each got to the quarterback as well. 

Pettis-Taylor led the Peacocks in tackles with seven (four solo). Evan Dorn totaled six tackles while Avery Dixon, Parsons and Latanauskas each had five. Latanauskas and Mack both had two quarterback hurries. Brycen Hendrix led the team in breakups with two. 

The GLVC is now 5-1 in the bowl game against the G-MAC. Upper Iowa joins Truman State as the second GLVC team to bring back the trophy. The Peacocks have won 16 games over the past two seasons, marking the most wins in back-to-back years for the program.