MOORHEAD, Minn. - There was excitement abound at Alex Nemzek Stadium on the campus of Minnesota State University Moorhead, as the Dragons (1-2, 1-1 NSIC) snuck by the Upper Iowa Peacocks (0-3, 0-2 NSIC) on big defensive plays late in the second half to pick up the team's first win of the season, 28-24.
There were six lead changes in the defensive battle as the Dragons defense had two stops in the red-zone and a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone that carried the momentum in the home team's favor in the final quarter.
Upper Iowa, despite leading in most statistical categories could not capitalize in the red-zone as the Dragons defense played hard to stop the Peacocks from scoring. UIU ended the game with 486 yards on 91 plays. The Dragons had 263 yards of total offense, 194 coming off passing.
Upper Iowa went up 14-7 right before halftime on a one-yard run by Kinon O'Neal with :50 seconds left in the first half. This was the second score by UIU, as quarterback Drew Kaluzny tallied six, on a seven-yard run earlier in the second quarter.
The Dragons tallied their first touchdown of 2010 in the second quarter with seven minutes left on the clock, as Eboni Lucious-West ran in from five-yards out, as the game went to an even seven.
Wes Kramer tallied the extra-point for the Dragons.
After the halftime break, MSUM tied the game with six minutes left in the third as Koch connected with Tyrone Small for an 82-yard touchdown on a 2-play, 82-yard drive. The game would be tied at 14 after Kramer tallied his second extra point of the season.
The Dragons were down 17-14 with just under a minute left in the third quarter as an MSUM miscue led to a recovered fumble by the Peacocks on their two-yard line.
MSUM's defense stepped up and stopped three consecutive rushing plays to force a forth and two from the UIU ten-yard line. Junior
Tyler Hewson broke through the Peacock's offensive line on the punt attempt to deflect the ball into the end zone where
Logan Werlinger scooped it up for a Dragons touchdown. The home team went up 21-17 on an extra point by Kramer.
The Peacock's answered two drives later as they scored on a six-play, 51-yard drive where quarterback Drew Kaluzny rushed for his second touchdown of the game. He ran the ball in for six yards, pulling his team back in the lead, 24-12.
In the Dragons ensuing possession they took the ball from their own 40-yard line to the one-yard line as they capitalized on a penalty by UIU, holding that took an intercepted pass that would have scored back into the hands of the Dragons offense for a first down. After a pass interference call on a third-and-goal, the Dragons' quarterback
Kevin Koch ran the ball in from the one-yard line. Kramer would tally the extra point to put the score where it would remain for the game.
Koch would end the game going 10-for-32 for 194 yards. He had one touchdown in the game and no interceptions. Lucious-West ran for 63-yards on 22 carries, with one touchdown. Small ended the game with three catches for 99-yards with one touchdown. Kramer ended the game with all four extra-points for the Dragons.
The Dragons defense had 80.5 total tackles in the game, over double of what the Peacocks had with 40.0. The top four defenders for the Dragons were
Joey Dawson,
Jake Larsen,
Jeff Schuette and
Robert Wilhelm. Dawson led the team as he had 9.5 tackles (six solo), with 1.5 for a loss of six yards. Larsen had nine total tackles, four solo as he broke up one pass. Schuette tallied eight while Wilhelm marked seven. Both
Andrew Joyce and
Antonio Hardy-Dundy marked interceptions in the game.
Patrick Haynes also had big numbers for the Dragons as he punted 10 times, one short of the MSUM game record of 11, for 364 total yards, with three landing within the visitor's 20-yard line.
Kaluzny who had 106 rushing yards as well as going 26-for-83 from the gun, with 246 yards passing to lead the Peacock's. He also threw three interceptions.
The Dragons will return to action on Sat., Sept. 25, as they will travel to Crookston, Minn., to face the Golden Eagles at 1 p.m.
