Kilat Fitzgerald/Winonan

After ending No. 1 Minnesota State University, Mankato’s 40-game winning streak last week, the Winona State University football team squared off against Wayne State University, earning a 45-31 victory at home on Saturday against the Wildcats.

Winona State attained a total of 511 offensive yards while the Warrior defense limited the Wildcats to 286 offensive yards, with 70 of those coming in the passing game.

Junior quarterback Jack Nelson recorded another 300-yard passing game finishing with 336 yards while completing 20-of-30 pass attempts with three touchdowns.

Running back Paul Preston led the way in the ground game, earning 218 all-purpose yards, including 104 yards through the air with 58 on the ground.

His contribution resulted in an early lead, after the Wildcats gained the first points with a 30-yard field goal. Preston received a 40-yard screen pass and took it to Wayne State’s 24-yard line. After Eric Birth ran it another eight yards, Nelson connected with Lorenzo Mitchell for the 16-yard touchdown, ending the first quarter 7-3.

Wayne State’s response was a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown from running back Ryan Ludlow to go up 10-7 but it was the last lead the Wildcats took throughout the game.

Winona State countered with a trio of touchdowns to finish the first half, the first being from Birth on a 30-yard scamper to take the lead back 14-10.

“As soon as I broke the first tackle I thought ‘there is no chance I cannot get in this end zone’” Birth said.

After a Wildcat punt, Preston’s running game extended the lead 21-10 with a 19-yard touchdown with 2:06 left in the half.

A second straight forced punt by the Warrior defense gave the Warriors time for one last chance to find the end zone.

On the second play of the drive, Preston ran 66 yards down to the 13-yard line. The Warriors worked their way to the two-yard line with an 11-yard pass to Cameron Johnson followed by a two-yard score to tight end Nick Margiotta with 21 ticks on the clock to give Winona State a 28-10 halftime lead.

The Warriors could not replicate its first half success to start the second half as Alan May fumbled on the first Winona State drive. After a three-and-out by the Wildcats, Preston fumbled on the ensuing possession to give Wayne State excellent field position inside Warrior territory. The Wildcats finished with a six-yard run from Lane Yates to cut the deficit 28-17.

On the following kickoff, Zach Johnson laid a hit on Preston, jarring the ball loose at midfield, where the Wildcats recovered and later scored with a Ludlow touchdown to bring the deficit to four points, 28-24, halfway through the third quarter. Preston would have to leave the game after the hit.

“He got hit pretty hard,” Winona State head coach Tom Sawyer said. “I had a good conversation with him so he was fine in that way. I think he definitely took a shot to the head. Just part of being tackled, but the doctor took a look at him and everything’s looking positive now.”

“After those touchdowns, we looked each other in the eye and said ‘we got to face the adversity,’” senior linebacker Ian Murray said. “Finish the game strong and get the ‘W.’”

After a 22-yard field goal from Carter McCauley gave the Warriors a seven-point lead, 31-24, Nelson connected with Johnson for end zone corner catch to increase the lead 38-24. Elliot Cox recorded a two-yard rush to add to the lead, 45-24. Despite one final touchdown by the Wildcats, the Warriors held on for the 45-31 final.

Birth ended the day as the leading rusher for Winona State, rushing for 76 yards on 14 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt. Preston led the receivers with 106 yards, while Johnson chipped in six receptions for 88 yards, May having seven snags for 60 yards and Dylan Ulferts hauling in a trio of catches for a total of 64 yards.

Defensively, Murray led Winona State with a game- and career-high 14 tackles, while linebacker Mike Imperiale had nine tackles. Lauden Wood posted five tackles, with 2.5 going for a loss, while recovering a fumble. Jarrett Wood recorded the lone sack for the Warriors and forced the fumble Lauden recovered.

As a team, Winona State used its offense efficiently, holding the ball for 23:46 compared to more than 36 minutes by the Wildcats.

“It was kind of scattered. I just don’t think we had a good day tackling, especially in the first half. Our scheme was fine, we just got to make tackles. We’ll continue to work on that,” Sawyer said. “When you get a change you just kind of throw all the stuff you worked on during the week out the window. That’s our football team growing from within, adversity comes every game so to what we did is huge for our program. ”

Winona State (5-4, 3-2) hosts its final home game of the regular season Saturday against Augustana at Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.