Northern Iowa rolled to victory over the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks on homecoming Saturday. The Panthers were coming off of a tough loss to top ranked South Dakota State and found a big win in the UNI-Dome.
On 11th ranked North Dakota’s first possession they drove to the UNI 28 yard line before a fumbled handoff lead to a Panther recovery. On the first play after the turnover, Panther runningback Amauri Hickson- ripped off a twenty yard gain to put UNI in North Dakota territory. Four plays later it would Pesek-Hickson that ran off-tackle left for a 14 yard touchdown. The extra point set a school record, as kicker Matthew Cook scored a point in his 37th consecutive game to give UNI a 7-0 lead nine minutes into the game.
Northern Iowa had the pass and the ground game rolling on their next possession as well. The Panthers drove to the UND 13 yard line before Matthew Cook knocked home a 30 yard field goal to make the score 10-0. On the ensuing UND possession the Fighting Hawks drove to the Northern Iowa 8 yard line before a Caden Houghtelling sack took them back to the 17 yard line. Brady Stevens, the UND kicker missed the 35 yard field goal attempt wide left.
The fireworks came out near the end of the first half as QB Theo Day hit Sergio Morancy for a 70 yard touchdown pass to push the Panther lead to 17-0 with just under four minutes to play in the first half. The Panther defense, not to be outdone, stonewalled the Fighting Hawk offense to force a punt with under two minutes to go in the half. Northern Iowa appeared to have starting field position near the 50 yard line, but a holding penalty on the punt backed them up to their own 40 yard line and the drive ended with the clock with the score tied 17-0. The offense racked up 228 yards of total offense in the first half, 73 rushing and 155 passing. North Dakota managed just over 100 yards of total offense with 107 yards, most of which came through the air.
Northern Iowa’s offense picked up right where it left off driving right down the field using both the pass and the run. QB Theo Day hit Sam Schnee on multiple big gainers to work into the red zone before Pesek-Hickson carried the rock 11 more yards to the UND three yard line. The Panthers hit pay dirt when Day found WR Brady McCullough in the back of the end zone for a three yard touchdown. Cook’s extra point pushed the UNI lead to 24-0 at the 9:06 mark of the third quarter.
North Dakota fought back early in the fourth quarter, after a 50 yard strike from Tommy Schuster to Caden Dennis set the Fighting Hawks up at the UNI 8 yard line. However, the Panther defense stiffened up and help UND out of the end zone on fourth down to keep UND off the scoreboard. After punting back to UND Corry Thomas Jr. made a huge play as he undercut a deep post route to secure an interception, giving the Panthers the ball on the UND 34 yard line. UNI turned that into three point off the foot of Matthew Cook. The 35 yard field goal made a score 27-0 with 2:30 remaining on the 4th quarter clock.
The Panther push their record to 4-3 and will head #25 Illinois State next Saturday.
