Cedar Falls- The University of North Iowa football team beat Western Illinois in dominant fashion 50-6. Northern Iowa (5-3) came into the game ranked #18 in the Stats poll and #23 in the coaches poll. The 0-8, 0-5 Leathernecks are playing their last season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The Panthers started the game on offense and wasted no time in getting deep into the playbook. They used a flea flicker on the second play of the game to move into Leatherneck territory. Three plays later the Panthers drew first blood with a 27 yard play action pass from Theo Day to Sergio Morancy. On their second drive UNI was moving the ball down field quickly. Jaiden Ellis-Lahey made a catch in traffic, but as he turned upfield to run the ball was punched out and recovered the Leathernecks JJ Ross on the WIU 8 yard line. Western Illinois, however, wasn’t able to capitalize on the mistake as they fumbled on 3rd and ten, giving Northern Iowa the ball at the WIU 6 yard line. After the Caden Houghtelling recovery, it took one play for Amauri Pesek-Hickson to dive into the end zone to to make the score 14-0.
The Panther defense was in solid form as well. They stoned Western Illinois on a 4th and 1 play at the WIU 38 yard line to get the ball back for the UNI offense, who went right to work moving down the field. Theo Day had actually under-thrown receiver Logan Wolf on a deep throw, but the Leatherneck defense tipped the ball into the air and Wolf was able to track it down for the big gainer to the WIU 4 yard line. Two plays later Day found Alex Allen for the third Panther touchdown of the first quarter. With the extra point Panthers placekicker Matthew Cook became the Northern Iowa all-time leading scorer, passing former running back David Johnson.
Western Illinois started the ensuing drive on their own 1 yard line due to an “incomplete” fair catch signal. They were able to push the ball to the 7 yard line before being forced to punt. The snap, however, was off the mark and punter Jared Campbell fell out of the back of the end zone for a safety to push the UNI lead to 23-0. The Panthers took the need drive straight to the end zone, capped with a 2 yard Pesek-Hickson touchdown. Matthew Cook capped the first half scoring with a 20 yard field goal with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter. UNI rolled up 341 yards of total offense in the first half against Western Illinois’ 46 yards.
The Leathernecks couldn’t find footing in the second half either, as UNI’s Tucker Langenberg stepped in front of a Matt Morrissey pass to set the Panther offense up in plus territory. Tye Edwards took the first carry right down Broadway to pay dirt. The 29 yard run gave the Panthers a 40-0 lead less than three minutes into the second half. Halfway through the third quarter Aiden Dunne came into the game at quarterback for UNI and proceeded to hit Liam McComas for a gain of 16 to the WIU 14 yard line. Two plays later he threw a touch pass to Brady McCullough that was originally tipped by a Leatherneck defender. In the fourth quarter Northern Iowa tacked on another Matthew Cook field goal from 28 yards to cap the UNI scoring. Western Illinois was able to punch the ball in with 1:49 to go in the game, scoring their first touchdown in two games, when Morrissey found Tajh Sanders in the back of the end zone for the score to make it 50-6.
UNI pushed their record to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the MVFC. They will head to Missouri State next week before closing out the regular season against #15 North Dakota State.
