ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Northwestern Football team returned to Reynolds Field for its first conference home game of the 2026 season on Saturday. It was an unusually hot, windy Saturday for October, much to the delight of the Homecoming crowd filling the stands to the brim. The home crowd was also delighted by the play on the field, as UNW scored 46 points in the first half and cruised to a 46-14 win over the University of Minnesota Morris to improve to 2-0 in UMAC play.
Northwestern was able to move the ball into Morris territory on its opening possession after
Elijah Alexander (Minneapolis, Minn./Andover), the reigning UMAC Offensive Player of the Week, hit
Tate Westin (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) for 21 yards, but would ultimately settle for a punt, which
Gideon Cruver (Fayetteville, Ga./Landmark Christian) pinned at the nine-yard line. This proved to be a crucial play, as three plays later, after an
Alex Petersen (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) and
Reid Jelks (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) sack, the Cougars' long snapper snapped the ball out of the end zone for a safety on a punt attempt, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
The crooked number only became more crooked, as Alexander and the UNW offense marched right down the field after starting with excellent field position via a 33-yard return from
Braeden Little (Ladysmith, Wis./Ladysmith). Little bookended the series with a seven-yard touchdown reception, stretching the ball across the pylon on the left sideline, and the PAT made it a 9-0 score. Minnesota Morris countered with its own touchdown drive to pull within two at 9-7 entering the second period.
On the first play of the second period,
Trey Ulmer (West Melbourne, Fla./Heritage) was left wide open up the seam and made the only defender with a chance to tackle him miss, on his way to a 41-yard touchdown reception from Alexander. Head Coach
Matt Moore then reached into his bag of tricks, lining long snapper/cornerback
Alex Schultz (Staples, Minn./Staples-Motley) up behind center and running in a two-point conversion in a swinging gate formation to make it 17-7. Two plays later, it was Northwestern's defense's turn to make a play, as Cruver strip-sacked UMM's Bryson Drake. Isaish Voss recovered to set the Eagles' offense up with a short field at the 11-yard line. 14 seconds later, Alexander scrambled to his right and hurdled over a defender to score and make it a 24-7 advantage.
Luke Sommerlot's defense came up with another stop on the next series, and
Ken Ingram's offense finished the metaphorical alley-oop with a nine-play scoring drive, capped off by another highlight-reel TD from Ulmer. The junior wideout bounced off a defender near the sideline, somehow stayed on his feet and in bounds, and dashed into the end zone. Not satisfied with just one trick play two-point conversion, UNW dialed up another, as kicker
Erich Hulshizer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh) took a no-look pitch and scampered in to extend the lead to 32-7.
Somehow, the first-half scoring was still far from completed, even with 6:58 remaining after the Ulmer touchdown. After Northwestern's defense forced another three-and-out, Morris tried some trickery of its own, attempting to run its punter on 4th and 9; but
Jaquan Ellington (Richland, Ga./Chattahoochee County) snuffed it out and made the tackle, and on the very next play, Alexander threw a dart to Little for a 28-yard score. After a ho-hum extra point, UNW led 39-7. With one more left in them, the Eagles made another big play on special teams. After teaming up with
Drake Lindberg (Keystone, S.D./Rapid City Christian) for a third-down sack, Voss broke through the line and blocked a punt to give Northwestern the ball just outside the red zone with 3:01 to go. Alexander again used his legs to scamper in from eight yards out for his sixth total touchdown of the afternoon, giving the hosts a staggering 46-7 lead at the half.
While UNW did not score in the second half after taking its foot off the gas and deploying more of a clock-controlling approach, it certainly still made its fair share of plays.
Ben Ballard (Egan, S.D./Homeschool) forced a fumble, recovered by Voss, on UMM's opening series, and
Jaquan Ellington (Richland, Ga./Chattahoochee County) gave everyone in attendance free Chick-Fil-A by intercepting his third pass of the season when the Cougars appeared to be on the verge of scoring. Morris was able to tack on another score late to make it a 46-14 final score.
Alexander did a little bit of everything, throwing for 235 yards and running for 53, scoring six touchdowns in total. Ulmer continued his hot start to conference play by hauling in five passes for 81 yards and two scores, while Little caught seven balls for 58 yards and a pair of TDs. Alexander and backup QB
Ty Schultz (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) ultimately found eight different pass-catchers, including Westin three times for 39 yards. Voss, a converted tight end, was the star of the defense with seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt.
Wes Schlabach (Spearfish, S.D./Rapid City Christian) added five tackles and a TFL, while seven other Eagles recorded 0.5 tackles for loss, including half sacks for Lindberg, Jelks and Petersen. Cruver's lone tackle of the day was the strip-sack, and Ellington added four tackles to his interception.
Perhaps UNW's biggest game of the season will take place next Saturday, October 17th, when it travels south to Westminster, the only other unbeaten UMAC team. Kickoff in Fulton, Missouri is scheduled for 11:00 AM.
