Sam Thiel/ Winonan
The Winona State University football team posted a 38-19 victory Saturday night at Harms-Eischeid Stadium in Fayette, Iowa. The Warriors defeated Upper Iowa University to break their three-game losing streak.
Warrior Ryan Gerts forced a Peacock fumble on the second play from scrimmage that Mitch Lunder scooped up, giving the offense their first drive at Upper Iowa’s 24 yard line. Paul Preston then scrambled 16 yards for the touchdown on the second play of the Warriors’ drive to give Winona State a 7-0 lead.
The Peacocks responded a few minutes later with a 13-yard score of their own to knot things up at seven points apiece.
Preston took the first play from scrimmage 48 yards down to Upper Iowa’s 22-yard line. This play would lay the foundation for Direll Clark’s seven-yard rushing touchdown to give the Warriors a 14-7 advantage.
Still in the first quarter, Jack Nelson connected with Cameron Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown to increase the Warriors’ lead 21-7 with 2:49 left.
After a Peacock field goal early in the second quarter cut the deficit to 11, Upper Iowa would bring it down to within a touchdown right before the break. The Peacocks used a blocked punt to their advantage to help set up a 32-yard field goal to cut the lead 21-13 heading into the locker room.
After the break, Clark recorded his second score of the night, this time from one yard out to give the Warriors a 28-13 advantage.
Later in the third quarter Nelson scrambled for a 15-yard touchdown after avoiding the sack to bring the score to 35-13.
Carter McCauley punched through his second field goal of the season early in the fourth quarter to increase the Warrior lead 38-13 before the Peacocks retaliated with a two-yard rush for a touchdown.
Winona State stopped Upper Iowa’s two-point conversion to keep the score 38-19, a score that would remain until the end.
Winona State allowed 23 carries for 35 yards. The Warriors carried the ball 45 times to the tune of 226 yards.
Preston posted 133 yards for the Warriors and a score on 20 attempts with 6.7 yards per carry. The sophomore running back finished the night with 201 all-purpose yards.
Head coach Tom Sawyer said, “The offensive line improved greatly over the last week. We made less mistakes which makes better plays.”
As for the defense, sophomore linebacker Jarrett Wood led the Warriors with seven tackles – two of which went for a loss – and a sack, while also snagging a 38-yard interception return as well as scooping up a fumble.
“The main contributors to our success were having all eleven on the same page and playing assignment football,” Wood said. “The coaches got after us all week and it was nice to play a full complete game. A huge key was gaining momentum from taking the ball away and handling adversity.”
Ian Murray also recorded an interception for Winona State, while Anthony Catanese and Jeff Brown were awarded a full sack each. Tyler Kubler also posted a couple of tackles-for-loss to add to the Warrior cause.
“As far as holding them to 35 yards rushing, I’d say the main factor was the D-line play was outstanding,” linebacker Ryan Gerts said. “It makes it a lot easier on us linebackers when we have clear vision, and the D-line did a great job opening things up for us and getting great penetration.”
Gerts said being able to get to the quarterback was extremely important and will also be key in next week’s game.
“We were able to rack up 3 sacks but a big factor was just hits on the quarterback and making him uncomfortable in the pocket,” Gerts said. “That will be huge next week against Sioux Falls. We need to have great rush defense and get to the quarterback.”
Winona State (4-3) will now return home for another matchup at Warrior Stadium on Saturday where it faces No. 19 Sioux Falls for their annual homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
