Upper Iowa 21 Wayne State 20
Upper Iowa blocked a potential game-winning 30 yard field goal attempt by Wayne State's Nick Bell with 31 seconds remaining to help the Peacocks preserve a 21-20 upset win over the Wildcats in Northern Sun Conference football played Saturday afternoon in Fayette, Iowa. The Wildcats fall to 5-4 overall and 4-4 in the NSIC with their third straight loss while Upper Iowa improves to 2-7 overall and 2-6 in league play with the win.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Upper Iowa used a big play to cap a 90 yard drive on six plays to take the lead early in the second quarter as quarterback Ben Curran found Dominique Jackson open on a 44 yard scoring play to give the Peacocks a 6-0 lead with 14:01 to play in the first half following a failed extra point kick by Jason Price. It didn't take long for the Wildcats to respond as Wayne State scored on the ensuing drive, which started at the Upper Iowa 17 yard line thanks to a 60-yard kickoff return by sophomore Kevin Paulsen to give the Wildcats great field position. The Wildcats needed just three plays to score as Eric Meyer found the end zone on a three yard jaunt at the 13:00 mark of the second quarter to put WSC in front 7-6 after Nick Bell's extra point kick.
After Wayne State forced Upper Iowa on a three and out, the Wildcats got the ball at their own 45 yard line on their next drive and marched to the Peacock 25 yard line, but a 42-yard field goal attempt by Nick Bell was blocked to stop the Wildcat scoring opportunity. Later in the second quarter, WSC extended the lead as sophomore quarterback Evan Johnson found Kevin Paulsen on a 52-yard scoring pass, capping a six play, 84-yard drive, to put the Wildcats ahead 14-6 with 3:24 to play in the second quarter to close out the scoring in the first half.
Upper Iowa wasted little time getting on the board in the third quarter as Jessie Hubbard took the second half kickoff and raced 92 yards for a touchdown for the Peacocks. A two point pass conversion from Ben Curran to John Baldwin was good to knot the score at 14-14 with 14:42 remaining in the third quarter. Later in the quarter, the Peacocks regained the lead driving 80 yards on nine plays as Curran found Hubbard on a 24-yard pass play to culminate the touchdown drive with 1:47, putting the Peacocks ahead 21-14 with 1:47 to play in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Wayne State's Kevin Paulsen fielded the ball at his own 11 yard line and returned the kick 86 yards to the Upper Iowa three yard line. On the next play, sophomore Nick Pulscher found the end zone on a three yard run to make the score 21-20. However, the PAT kick by Nick Bell failed leaving the score 21-20 Upper Iowa with 1:25 remaining in the third quarter.
Neither team had much success moving the ball in the fourth quarter. Upper Iowa had the ball with 3:06 remaining at their own 36 and WSC used all three timeouts and stopped the Peacocks, forcing UIU to punt. The Wildcats got the ball at their own 20 yard line with 2:39 to play in the game, trailing 21-20. Evan Johnson completed passes of 11 and 7 yards to Kevin Paulsen, a Mario Melvin six yard run and back-to-back completions of 11 and 14 yards to Tommy Warren got Wayne State down to the Upper Iowa 31 yard line with 1:47 to play. WSC got another first down on a 14-yard pass from Johnson to Eddy Cesar, putting the ball at the Peacock 17 yard line. Then Upper Iowa's defense clamped down on the Wildcats, stopping WSC on a 3rd and 7 at the Upper Iowa 14 yard line that forced a potential game winning field goal attempt of 30 yards by Nick Bell. But the Peacocks special teams came up big for a second time in the game, blocking the field goal with 31 seconds remaining to preserve Upper Iowa's 21-20 upset win over the Wildcats.
Wayne State had 349 yards of total offense to 335 for Upper Iowa. The 'Cats had 137 yards rushing and 212 passing. Mario Melvin was the top rusher for the Wildcats with 59 yards on eight carries. Evan Johnson completed 23 of 34 passes for 212 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore Kevin Paulsen was the top receiver with seven catches for 107 yards and one score and had three kickoff returns for 158 yards to finish the game with 271 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, Austan Pomajzl had eight tackles for WSC followed by Kyle Bertelsen and Michael Bazata with seven stops apiece.
Wayne State returns home next Saturday to face #8 Augustana at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne in the annual Egg Bowl Game for the final home game of the 2010 season.
