Sam Thiel/ Winonan

Winona State University’s football team fell to No. 14 University of Sioux Falls 41-28 in front of a crowd of 4,719 on homecoming weekend in Winona.

Playing in their third consecutive home game against a top 15 ranked opponent, the Warriors kept pace with the Sioux Falls’ passing game (230-226), but the Cougars ran the ball for 208 yards as Winona State rushed for 96 total yards.

The Warriors fell into a 14-0 hole after the first quarter and, by the halfway mark of the second quarter, dug themselves into a four-touchdown deficit.

The Warriors were able to outscore the Cougars 28-13 the rest of the game but this was not enough to claim the win.

Head coach Tom Sawyer said he was surprised and disappointed with the outcome of the game.

“We couldn’t do anything offensively, and I was really disappointed with that,” Sawyer said. “We were behind the chains the entire time, penalties, drops, and it was just not a very clean football game for us.”

Josh Mikes said the Warriors relied too much on the defense rather than making plays.

“We’re just not making plays when we need to make them. It’s all around the field on both sides of the ball,” Mikes said. “We couldn’t get anything going our first two drives and made the defense try and stop their powerful offense.”

Sioux Falls got the scoring started at the 11:31 mark in the first quarter when quarterback Luke Papilion took it himself for a nine-yard rush to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

After missing a field goal on their next possession, the Cougars scored again when Papilion connected with Nick Stanze for an eight-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.

After Sioux Falls missed a second field goal, Papilion found the back of the end zone on his second rushing score of the afternoon, this one for 15 yards to increase the Sioux Falls’ advantage 21-0.

The Cougars would strike again with a 35-yard fumble recovery to extend the lead 28-0 with 7:15 remaining in the half.

Paul Preston got the Warriors on the scoreboard a couple of minutes later with a 17-yard rush to make it 28-7.

The Cougars responded with another score, a 27-yard pass from Papilion to Josh Angulo to give Sioux Falls a 35-7 advantage.

Before halftime Jack Nelson and Mikes found each other less than two minutes apart for completions of 22 yards and two yards to cut the deficit 35-21 heading into the locker room.

Sioux Falls increased its second half advantage 41-21 after a couple of field goals before Preston found the back of the end zone for the second time for the Warriors to record the game’s final score 41-28.

Preston finished the afternoon with 110 rushing yards on 17 attempts (6.5 yards per carry) and a couple of touchdowns, giving the sophomore back his third consecutive game with at least 100 yards and the first multi-score game of his career.

Nelson completed 24 of his 47 pass attempts with a pair of touchdowns and a trio of picks, the first three-interception game of his career. Nelson was also dropped for a loss four times in the game.

“The coaches have been drawing up good schemes for us, and we just need to go out and execute them. We’re not doing that right now,” Nelson said. “You’ve seen spurts of it throughout the game sometimes, but we need to do the whole game.”

On the defensive end Ian Murray led the way for the Warriors in the tackling department, posting nine tackles with one going for a loss. Ryan Gerts ended with eight tackles, including two for a loss while Morgan Weaver posted seven solo tackles and one tackle for loss.

Jeff Brown posted seven tackles—two of those going for a loss. Jarrett Wood recorded the lone sack for Winona State while also leading the team with 2.5 tackles-for-loss and forcing and recovering a fumble to add to the Warrior effort.

Brown said the Warriors did not play up to their full potential against the Cougars.

“It was disappointing to come out that slow, because we know what we’re capable of when we are on the same page,” Brown said. “We just need to believe in ourselves right from the beginning, and if we can play our assignments 100 percent of the time, we can play with anybody.”

Winona State (4-4 overall, 1-3 NSIC South) hits the road for the final time this season Saturday, Nov. 1 when it faces Augustana in Sioux Falls, S.D. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.