ST. PAUL, Minn.- It was Homecoming Saturday at Reynolds Field as the UNW Football team hosted Finlandia University for the first UMAC contest of the year. The large Homecoming crowd was rewarded with the first Eagle win of the season, as UNW won 16-13.
Rain was falling throughout the contest and that set the tone for a defensive slugfest to open conference play. After an early turnover, it was the home team that started the scoring. The Eagles started from their 20 yard line, and gave the ball to running back
Keegan James (Brooklyn, Iowa/IBGM) on the first three plays of the possession. After carries of nine and eight, James broke one down the right sideline for 58 yards.
Jeremiah Staten (South Elgin, Ill./Wheaton Academy) would finish the drive by running in his second touchdown of the season from three yards out.
The Eagles defense was strong throughout the first half. Early in the second quarter,
Nic Schultz (Fontana, Calif./Etiwanda) intercepted a Finlandia pass. On the next Lions possession,
Brad Kulinski (Milwaukee, Wis./Martin Luther) and
George Obitz (Florence, Ariz./Florence) met at the quarterback and came away with a sack in the end zone. This resulted in a safety, and UNW went up 9-0 in the second quarter.
With 2:57 left in the first half, the Lions got on the board. An eight yard touchdown pass, and an errant snap on the extra point made it a 9-6 game in favor of the Eagles going into the halftime break.
Coming out of the locker rooms for the third quarter, the defenses took over the game. Neither team scored in the third quarter. The Eagles stopped the Lions twice on 4
th down, and forced a punt in the quarter.
It took the Eagles' offense a little time to get rolling in the second half, but with 10:24 left in the contest, the offense delivered the final blow. On the first play of the possession,
Collin Currier (Waconia, Minn./Waconia High School) faked a handoff and then went deep down the middle of the field. The pass hit
Beau Burk (Ogilvie, Minn. / Ogilvie) in stride, and the freshman cruised into the end zone to give the Eagles the 16-6 lead.
Finlandia would score a touchdown with four seconds left to bring the score to 16-13, which would hold as the final score.
The rushing attack was the story for the Eagles' offense. UNW ran for 247 yards for the game, and were led by
Keegan James (Brooklyn, Iowa/IBGM) who finished with 127 of those yards.
Jeremiah Staten (South Elgin, Ill./Wheaton Academy) had 70 yards and a touchdown, and
Collin Currier (Waconia, Minn./Waconia High School) chipped in 40 yards on the ground.
Luke Malamisuro (Cambridge Isanti, Minn./Cambridge Isanti) had a big game defensively for Northwestern. The corner had 11 tackles and broke up three passes.
George Obitz (Florence, Ariz./Florence) had 10 tackles, and
Luke Nienow (Rochester, Minn./Mayo) had 9.
The Eagles are 1-0 in UMAC play, and will travel to play Greenville next Saturday on the road. The game marks a big conference challenge for the Eagles, as Greenville was picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason poll.
