• Photo Showcase: UNK 32, UNO 29

* * *

All night, UNK had Kyle Kaiser open deep but couldn't get it to him.

So when they needed him most, the Lopers found Kaiser underneath the UNO defense.

Three plays after UNO had moved in front 29-24, Jake Spitzlberger hit Kaiser on a short crossing route over the middle. The speedy senior did the rest, sprinting to the right sideline, weaving his way through traffic, then cutting back over the middle for a 59-yard touchdown with 7:28 to play.

It turned out to be the winning score in the Lopers' 32-29 win over Division II No. 12 UNO before 7,831 at Caniglia Field, as UNK knocked off its intrastate rivals to claim the Victory Bell for the second year in a row.

“It's a play we've been working on, and it worked perfectly,” Kaiser said. “Everyone did a great job blocking downfield on it.”

UNO had led all game after scoring on its opening drive, and had stretched the margin to as much as 16-7 and 23-10, but the Lopers kept chipping away.

“We developed of sense of ‘We aren't giving up,' when we beat Saginaw (Valley State) in the playoffs last year, and it looks like these kids might have the same kind of heart,” UNK coach Darrell Morris said. “You've got to give it to them. I had a team that didn't panic last year, and it looks like I've got one that doesn't panic this year."

The Lopers took their first lead on Rustin Dring's catch-and-run, also on a crossing pattern underneath the Mav defense. The 30-yard scoring play gave UNK a 24-23 lead with 10:17 to go.

“The coverage they were giving us, you've got to go underneath them,” Morris said. “And we've got two guys who can do some stuff when they get it in their hands. You don't want to beat your head against a brick wall.”

UNO played without both All-America kicker Greg Zuerlein and all-conference tailback Levi Terrell, the reigning Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association freshman of the year.

Terrell had a hamstring injury bother him all through camp.

Losing Terrell was tough, but playing without Zuerlein might have been the difference.

“We had to go for it on a couple of fourth downs,” quarterback Jon Daniels said. “In a three-point game, that's when you could use your All-American kicker. But we're not making excuses, we've got to go on to the next game.”

UNO coach Pat Behrns said Zuerlein suffered a groin injury in an Aug. 28 scrimmage. Behrns kept the injury under wraps, and planned all week to use backup punter Tyler Johnson on kickoffs and short field goals and hoped to have Zuerlein kick extra points.

Zuerlein did kick the first extra point of the game but limped off badly and didn't return.

UNO gave away several points in the kicking game — Johnson had an extra-point blocked and missed a 30-yard field goal, and UNO elected to go for it on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter when it likely would have rather turned to Zuerlein for field goals of 42 and 50 yards. The 50-yard attempt would have been after UNO's last series. Instead Daniels threw incomplete against a heavy blitz on fourth-and-9 after throwing incomplete on third-and-9.

“We didn't have much of a choice,” Behrns said. “If you've got Greg, maybe you jockey for a little better (field) position (and kick).”

Dring gouged the UNO defense for 193 yards and three touchdowns, rushing 24 times for 116 yards and a score, while catching six passes for another 77 yards and two touchdowns. Kaiser caught six passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, while Spitzlberger passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for another 61 — not counting his two-point conversion run that accounted for the game's final points.

“Rusty (Dring) showed up big time and I've got a young and inexperienced line, and I think they played their tails off,” Morris said.

UNK was ranked No. 13 in Division II in the preseason, but dropped out after an overtime home loss to Wayne State in its season opener.
Behind for the first time all game, UNO wasted little time moving back in front, with a four-play, 68-yard scoring drive.

Daniels threw to Mike Higgins for 25 yards, then ran 22 yards on his own on a rollout. After an incomplete pass, Daniels delivered an option pitch to true freshman James Franklin, who split two defenders at the corner and sprinted 21 yards for his second touchdown. That made it 29-24 with 8:51 left. UNO tried for two, but Daniels' pass on the run to Higgins was low and incomplete.

UNO also lost two fumbles deep in UNK territory, once when Bryce Hawthorne fumbled inside the 10, another when Justin Coleman fumbled inside the 25.

“That's not a very efficient way to play,” Behrns said. “The execution of our running game was OK, but I was disappointed with the fumbles because they were critical.”

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

« Sports - Mavs Today

Share