Box Score

FAYETTE, Iowa – Upper Iowa racked up 365 yards rushing including 250 yards and two touchdowns by Ryan Parmely to earn a 31-20 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football on Saturday afternoon.
 
UIU quarterback Kyle Domin, making his first career start, completed just 9 of 13 passes for 81 yards, but rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 26 attempts.
 
UIU, which snapped a nine-game losing streak to SMSU, improves to 6-3 overall, 3-2 NSIC South. SMSU dropped its sixth straight game—its longest streak since 2003—and is now 2-7 overall, 0-5 NSIC South.  
 
UIU finished the game with 446 yards of offense and 27 first downs while holding a 41:27 to 18:33 time of possession. SMSU closed the game with 298 yards of total offense, but amassed just 20 yards rushing on 15 attempts.
 
It's the third straight game a Mustang opponent has rushed for more than 300 yards while the Mustang offense was held to less than 100 yards rushing for the fifth time.
 
Boyer Bouman completed 21 of 42 pass attempts for the Mustangs for a career-high 278 yards and three touchdowns. Nate Huot caught a game-high nine passes for 114 yards and one touchdown. It was his 11^th career 100-yard receiving game while the touchdown reception was the 29^th of his career to tie Anthony Dean for third all-time in team history.
 
SMSU linebacker Shane Ratkovich had another monster game for the Mustangs, racking up a career-high 21 tackles while also forcing and recovering a fumble. Alex Ney finished with 17 tackles including a forced fumble while Michael Griffin chipped in with a career-high 15 tackles.
 
SMSU had a golden opportunity to take an early lead as Lucas Fisher blocked an UIU punt on its opening drive setting up the Mustang offense at the UIU 2-yard line. SMSU wasn't able to score following three rushes and an incomplete pass ending the scoring threat.
 
Later in quarter, the SMSU defense would force UIU to turn the ball over on downs at the SMSU 36-yard line and also forced a fumble to end a Peacock drive inside the SMSU 20-yard line.
 
The SMSU offense was not able to take advantage of the defensive stops and was held to just nine yards of offense in the first quarter on nine total plays.
 
UIU finally broke free with the game's first score as Parmely plowed in on a 6-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to give the Peacocks a 7-0 advantage. UIU converted a pair of third- and-long conversions during the drive.
 
UIU added to the lead late in the first half, once again picking up a key third-down conversion inside Mustang territory. Facing third-and-nine from the SMSU 20-yard line, Parmely broke free for a 17-yard run and one play later Domin scored on a 3-yard run to make the score 14-0 with 15 seconds left in the half.
 
SMSU started the second half in a big way as Bouman connected on a 43-yard touchdown pass to Quadri Busari to cut the deficit to 14-7 early in the third quarter. The key play of the drive was a 12-yard reception by Busari on third-and-10 from the SMSU 29-yard line.
 
Following a big kickoff return by UIU, the Peacock offense ran nine straight running plays to add to the lead with Parmely capping the 49-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 21-7 with 8:49 left in the third.
 
SMSU was forced to punt on its next drive and UIU was able to break free and blocked Austin Wells' punt to take over at the SMSU 37-yard line. The Peacocks picked up one first down but the drive stalled and settled for a Brady Beuschel 42-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-7.
 
The Mustangs quickly answered four plays later with Bouman connecting on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Max Simmons making the score 24-13 late in the third quarter.
 
UIU nearly added to the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Domin fumbled at the SMSU 1-yard line ending the drive on a recovery by Ratkovich. SMSU punted following a three-and-out and following a big UIU return took over on its next drive at the SMSU 15-yard line. One play later, Domin sprinted in for a 15-yard touchdown run to give the Peacocks a 31-13 lead.
 
Following punts by both squads, SMSU was able to cut into the deficit with an eight-play, 55-yard drive capped by a Bouman 9-yard touchdown pass to Huot with 7:47 remaining in the game.
 
UIU was able to run more than three minutes off the clock on its next drive before SMSU took over with 4:29 remaining on the clock. SMSU picked up three first downs but was stopped on downs at the UIU 35-yard line to seal the victory for the Peacocks.
 
Southwest Minnesota State returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 4, hosting No. 10 Winona State in the final home game of the season starting at 1 p.m. at the Schwan Regional Event Center. It will be the third annual "Battle for the Sledge" trophy game. WSU, ranked No. 1 in this week's NCAA Super Region 4 rankings, suffered its first loss of the season today at Minnesota State.