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MARSHALL, Minn. - Warren Matthews scored the go-ahead touchdown with two minutes and 16 seconds left in the game to lead Southwest Minnesota State to a thrilling 48-45 victory over the University of Mary on Saturday night in Marshall.

It was the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opening game for both teams. SMSU is now 1-1 overall, 1-0 NSIC, while the University of Mary is 1-1 overall, 0-1 NSIC.

The two teams combined to rack up 1,033 yards of total offense with 58 combined first downs and 11 lead changes.

Following the Matthews touchdown, the Marauders took over at their own 29-yard line and moved to the SMSU 18-yard line, but UMary's Tyler Ryan missed a 35-yard field goal with 32 seconds left to seal the SMSU victory.

SMSU's Tyler Peschong, making his third career start, played his best game in a Mustang uniform, completing 29 of 35 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 89 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.

The last run by Matthews put him over 100 yards rushing for the third time of his career as he finished with 101 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries. SMSU's Anthony Dean recorded his first career 100-yard receiving game finishing with five receptions for 102 yards and one touchdown.  The last time SMSU had two different players reach 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game was in 2004.

Saturday's game was also the first time since 1996 that SMSU had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver in the same game.

Phil Breidall led SMSU on the defensive side of the ball with a career-high nine tackles, while Joe Stupka recorded eight tackles.

UMary quarterback Craig Bagnell completed 23 of 35 passes for 403 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 64 yards and one touchdown. Josh Murray added 90 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 15 attempts.

SMSU opened the game with a 62-yard drive capped by a Peschong 5-yard touchdown run with 9:11 left in the first quarter.

UMary scored 10 straight points to take a 10-7 lead into the second quarter, before SMSU answered with a Mike Wenk 28-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10 with 9:41 left in the half.

Bagnell scored with 6:06 left in the half to give the Marauders a 17-10 lead, before the Mustangs answered with an 89-yard drive closed out by a 1-yard touchdown run by Peschong with 1:30 left to tie the game at 17.

The points were far from over in the half as Mary regained the lead with 58 seconds remaining on a Avan Leday 25-yard touchdown reception, but SMSU rallied back putting together a 60-yard drive in just five plays capped by a 25-yard field goal by Wenk to trim the deficit to 24-20 at halftime.

SMSU forced Mary punt to begin the third quarter and the Mustang offense took advantage and regained the lead with 8:06 left in the quarter on a 19-yard touchdown reception by Dean.

Mary came right back with its first touchdown of the second half as Bagnell connected with Bryan Sandy on a 13-yard touchdown to give the Marauders a 31-27 lead with 3:43 left.

As was the case the entire game, SMSU answered back with 58-yard scoring drive as Peschong fired a 27-yard touchdown pass to Abe Kos to make the score 34-31 in favor of SMSU with just 19 seconds left in the third quarter.

On Mary's next possession, Bagnell completed a 60-yard pass to Tyler Steffan on the drive's first play and two plays into the fourth quarter Murray broke free from several SMSU defenders to score from six yards out and put UMary back in the lead at 38-34 with 14:45 left in the game.

On SMSU's next drive, starting at its own 28-yard line, Peschong led the team down the field and tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Cody Condon on fourth and goal to give SMSU the lead back at 41-38 with 11:55 remaining.

Both teams exchanged punts on the next two possession, before the Marauders put together another scoring drive with 7:02 on the clock and moved 70 yards in just five plays with Bagnell finishing the drive with a 45-yard strike to Nick Jolliffe with 4:26 on the clock to make the score 45-41.

The Mustang offense then quickly responded for the game-winning drive as Matthews rushed three times for a total of 52 yards, capped off by the game-winning 34-yard scoring run.

Mary took over with 2:10 on the clock and its own 29-yard line and converted one third-down at its own 34-yard line, before earning two more first downs to set up first and 10 at the SMSU 22-yard line. Bagnell was then forced to scramble for a one-yard run and then tossed an incomplete pass. On third down he rushed for a three-yard gain to move the ball to the 18-yard line. Ryan then stepped onto the field and pulled the potential game-tying kick to the left.

Both teams finished 7 of 11 on third-down conversions, while SMSU was 6-for-6 inside the red-zone, while UMary was 5-for-6.

SMSU continues conference play next Saturday, Sept. 17, with a 6 p.m. road game versus Bemidji State (2-0, 1-0 NSIC) at Chet Anderson Stadium.