Sam Thiel/Winonan

Over the past 19 years, the Winona State University football team has had success against Minnesota State University Moorhead, winning 14 games in a row.

But the Dragons flipped the script Thursday night, defeating the Warriors 42-17 in Moorhead.

“We have to play more of a disciplined football game,” junior linebacker Jarrett Wood. “We had a lot of costly penalties in crucial times that really hurt us.”

Winona State was limited for the majority of the game despite giving themselves chances at the start. After an opening drive covering 55 yards got the Warriors to the Dragons’ seven-yard line, Direll Clark fumbled, keeping the game scoreless.

The Warrior defense forced a second consecutive punt to give the ball back to the offense, and Jack Nelson orchestrated another drive down the field with completions of 24 and 25 yards to Alan May.

May recorded a solid game, finishing with 11 receptions and 161 yards receiving. The senior’s effort put him the record books, with the 11 receptions tying for fifth-most in Winona State single-game history and the 161 yards as 24th-best.

“They brought a lot of blitzes so the underneath routes were there all game and we took advantage of that,” May said.

With the ball on the five-yard line of MSU Moorhead, Nelson’s pass went off May’s hands and landed in the hands of the Dragons for the interception.

Once again, however, the strong effort from the Winona State defense forced another punt and ended the first quarter at a 0-0 tie.

The scoreboard would remain at zeros halfway through the second quarter, until Moorhead quarterback Jack Hodge connected with Preston Prince for a 28-yard touchdown to put the Dragons up 7-0. Running back Zayne Medhaug gave the home team a 14-0 advantage thanks to an eight-yard rush with a little more than a minute to go in the half.

After halftime, Winona State cut its deficit to within a touchdown with a one-yard rush by Clark. The Dragons responded with a touchdown of their own three minutes later, this time Medhaug hauling in an 11-yard pass from Hodge to give Moorhead a 21-7 lead.

Carter McCauley brought the score to 21-10 with a 31-yard field goal after the Warriors managed to connect on only two field goals last season in its entirety.

The Dragons took control of the game from that point on, scoring on plays from 49, 39 and 14 yards out to put the game out of reach at 42-10 with three minutes remaining.

“Most of their points came on big plays which means we have to focus harder this week on communication and every guy doing their job to limit those plays,” Wood added. “That game we played out there was not Warrior football. We beat ourselves.”

Nelson maintained his streak of posting a touchdown pass in a game with a 23-yard strike to redshirt freshman Will Claussen with 42 ticks on the clock to get to the 42-17 final.

Nelson ended the game with a completion rate of 62.2 percent (28-of-45) for 349 passing yards and a touchdown despite getting sacked twice. It was also the junior’s eighth game with at least 300 yards through the air.

The Warriors struggled on third-down situations, converting on just three of their 13 attempts.

“Not moving the chains makes the offense lose a lot of momentum,” May said. “It is something that we will work on this week. We need to execute better to get a win.”

Winona State (0-1) has a little over a week before its home opener on Saturday when it faces Minot State in the now-named Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winona. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.