Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. - With a steady rain falling at the start of the game, coaches on both sides of the field had to be worried about turnovers.  With the sun shining at the end of the game, however, it was Upper Iowa University who took advantage of Northern State University mistakes, turning three of them into 21 points as the Peacocks took a 31-26 victory over the Wolves Saturday afternoon at Swisher Stadium.
    The win drops NSU to 0-3 overall and 0-2 on the young Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season, while UIU moves to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.
    The Peacocks grabbed three interceptions and recovered an NSU fumble as they turned the tables on the Wolves.  Northern State scored on eight straight possessions in a 55-35 routing of the Peacocks in 2007.
    UIU’s Sam Epsteen provided the bulk of the offense for the Peacocks, carrying the ball 24 times for 172 yards and three touchdowns, including a 71-yard TD scamper after UIU recovered an NSU fumble midway through the second quarter.
    Wolves’ quarterback Eric Ellingson completed 36 of 58 passes for 379 yards.  NSU racked up 472 yards of total offense, but it was turnovers and controversy that told the story of the day.
    Despite giving up three touchdowns after turnovers, the Wolves refused to give up, putting together and sustaining several offensive drives to keep themselves in the hunt.  After forcing UIU into its seventh punt of the day, the Wolves regained possession of the ball at their own 15-yard line with 4:30 left to play in the game.
    Seven Ellingson passes and a Marty Ponzo rush later, the Wolves faced a fourth-down-and-two at the UIU 35 with just under a minute left on the clock.  Junior receiver Brian Jark took the ball on an end-around play, but, finding nowhere to run, attempted to flip the ball back to Ellingson, who had a clear path to the endzone. 
    Game officials, however, ruled that Jark was down before he got rid of the football, giving the Peacocks the ball back and allowing them to run out the clock to preserve the win.
    NSU, who has had trouble early in stopping the running game, limited the Peacocks to just 284 yards of total offense on the game and held them to 3 of 11 on third down conversions, but struggled to find an answer for Epsteen.
    Offensively for the Wolves, Jark tallied his second 100-yard receiving game of the season, hauling in 11 catches for 109 yards.  The junior receiver also carried the ball three times for 18 yards and two touchdowns, including a four-yard double-reverse in the second quarter that brought the Wolves back to within seven at 24-17.
    Sophomore receiver John Michael Migdal accounted for NSU’s third touchdown, as he gathered in a 45-yard pass from Ellingson in the first quarter that put the Wolves up 10-7.
    The Wolves will remain at home next weekend to host St. Cloud State in another NSIC matchup.  The Huskies were 31-17 winners over Wayne State today at home.  Kick-off for the game is slated for 7 p.m.