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Fueled by turnovers created by the defense, the Warriors scored three times in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon to pull away from Northern State.
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Winona's Randy Spring tries to break a tackle on Saturday against Northern State. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
WSU beat the Wolves 39-14 in the home opener at Maxwell Field, extending its home winning streak to 31 games in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
“We finally worked together,” said WSU coach Tom Sawyer, whose team rebounded from a 26-21 loss at Michigan Tech in last week’s season opener.
“The defense did something well and the offense capitalized on it,” he added. “We didn’t get that last week.”
The Warriors had a lot this week they didn’t have at Michigan Tech.
WSU got a dominant rushing game — especially from senior Randy Spring — a solid outing by quarterback Greg Preston and a better all-around performance by the defense.
It added up to a key win for the Warriors, who haven’t lost an NSIC home game since 1999.
“We never want to lose, period, but especially on our own field,” said Preston, a transfer from Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin. “We were glad to get a victory out of it. It was a huge game, our first conference game. We’re 1-1 right now, but we’re 1-0 in the conference.”
The defending champion Warriors led 20-14 at halftime and into the fourth quarter in a tighter game than some expected.
Craig Martindale came up with an interception at the goal line late in the third quarter as the Wolves were driving for a chance at the lead and the Warriors forced two more turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Tight end Ellis Minor caught a 7-yard pass from Preston with 8:19 remaining to start the scoring in the final quarter.
Following a fumble recovery by Chauncey Charlson, Spring had back-to-back runs of 9 and 11 yards to give the Warriors a 33-14 lead.
Andrew Verbancouer scored the second of his two touchdowns on a 7-yard run with 5:07 to play, converting after Cody Dummer’s interception, for a 39-14 lead.
WSU, which led the country in takeaways last season, had three interceptions and recovered two fumbles in the victory.
“Those are huge momentum swings,” linebacker Brent Yule said. “We work on sudden changes like that that can give your team momentum.”
The Warriors’ 64 yards in four plays on the first drive, ending with an 18-yard scoring run by Carey Rottman.
Northern State tied it nearly as quick, marching 68 yards in seven plays, with Eric Ellingson hooking up with running back Tavis Ve’e on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
WSU regained the lead on the first play of the second quarter — a 1-yard run by Verbancouer — and took a 20-7 late in the first half when Preston connected with Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane from 8 yards out.
The Warriors racked up 356 yards on offense in the first half but had just 20 points to show for it. They turned the ball over twice — an interception by backup quarterback Amir Ross and a fumble by tight end Trevin Bune.
“The first drive was good, but we slowed down after that,” WSU offensive tackle Marcus Greatens said. “The second half we came out with tempo and fire and really pounded it to them.”
Spring finished with a career-high 188 yards rushing on 28 carries. Rottman, who left the game in the first half with an ankle injury, had 66 yards on five carries, while Verbancouer rushed for 83 yards on 12 carries.
A sixth-year senior, Spring predicted big things in the running game earlier this week, primarily, he said, because the offensive line seemed upset about its performance in the opener.
WSU failed to convert some short-yardage plays, ultimately costing it a chance to win the game.
“They knew they were better than that and so did everyone else on this team,” Spring said. “Coach challenged them and they accepted. They came out and made it easy on all our backs today.”
Greatens said it was great seeing Spring have a great game and the offense click. Preston completed 21 of 30 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
“That’s all the glory you can really get as a lineman,” he said. “You want to see your running backs do well and keeping your quarterback off the ground.”
This was the first of three consecutive home games for the Warriors, who host Bemidji State next week and Concordia-St. Paul on Sept. 20 for homecoming.
Getting the first win out of the way was key for Sawyer and his team.
“We talked about playing well at home and in the conference,” Sawyer said. “This is where the season starts. I wanted to see us play good, hard football and we did that today.”
