University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Minnesota State-Mankato
The UNI Panther Football Team Pounds Minnesota State 40-0
9/11/2004 8:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2004
Cedar Falls - The number nine nationally ranked University of Northern Iowa football team improved its record to 1-1 with a win over Division II Minnesota State this afternoon in the UNI-Dome. After suffering a gut-wrenching 23-0 loss at Iowa State this past Saturday (Sept. 4th) the Panthers were eager to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
UNI was able to jump out to an early 17-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, scoring on its first four consecutive drives. On the fifth play of the first drive up the field, senior tight end Andy Thorn (Waterford, Mich./Iowa) caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tom Petrie (Plymouth, Minn/Wayzata). Sophomore kicker Brian Wingert (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) converted on the extra-point to mark the scoreboard at 7-0 in favor of the Panthers.
Thus began a long afternoon for the Mavericks of MSU. The Panther defense held MSU to three of 15 on third-down conversions and zero of one on fourth-down conversions. MSU totaled 124 yards on offense, including 29 rushing and 95 passing. UNI converted on 13 of 21 third-downs and tallied 549 total yards, including 328 rushing and 221 passing. Neither team turned the ball over.
"This is what we needed," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "I thought I'd have a better idea of this football team after today. I really felt we needed to come out and play like we did from the start... After today, I feel good about this football team, and you know, we've got a lot of work to do, but I feel a lot better about our team today than I did at this time last week."
Petrie led the Panthers in passing with 201 yards, completing 16 of his 26 passes. He threw for three touchdowns and had a long pass of 54 to Thorn on the third touchdown of the game at the 13:19 mark in the second period. Petrie also rushed for eight yards on five carries. UNI also got a look at its second-string quarterback, freshman Eric Sanders (Oelwein, Iowa/Oelwein). Sanders completed three of his five passes for 20 yards and a long pass of 10. The last touchdown of the game came at the 1:11 mark in the fourth period, when Sanders rushed the ball into the end zone on a one-yard run. Sanders totaled 10 yards on three carries.
After it struggled at Iowa State, the Panthers got a better look at their receiving game in this afternoon's win. Junior wide receiver Justin Surrency (St. Paul, Minn./Concordia Academy) recorded four receptions for 35 yards and a long of 13. Junior wide receiver Jason Breeland (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway Central) also caught three passes for 35 yards and a long of 16. Thorn led the panthers with 88 yards on two catches, both for touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver James Lindgren (Odebolt, Iowa/Odebolt-Arthur) scored on his only reception of the game off of a seven-yard pass from Petrie on the third UNI drive at the 00:18 mark in the first period. Leading the Panthers in rushing was senior fullback Jim Lizzi (Granger, Ind./Penn) who carried the ball 26 times for 145 yards. Junior tailback Terrance Freeney (Cedar Falls, Iowa/North Dakota State School of Science) 17 times for 103 yards.
Defensive leaders included senior linebacker Titus Ivory (Bolingbrook, Ill./Romeoville) who was credited with three solo and three assisted tackles. Senior free safety James Idleburgh (Lakeland, Fla./Iowa Central CC) also tallied three solo tackles and freshman defensive lineman Joe Lobdell (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) recorded three solo and one assisted.
"I said early in the two-a-day camp that I was concerned about our defense," Farley said. "And each week, they're coming out, they're playing sound defense, they're tackling. We didn't get any turnovers. We need to find a way to create turnovers, but all in all, we didn't give up the long run, we haven't given up the big play in two weeks now. So if we continue to build off that, I think that we can become a strong defense."
One injury that has been noted came in the first half when senior tailback Richard Carter (Lansing, Mich./Sexton) went down with a foot injury. Up until the injury, Carter had carried the ball six times for a total of 38 yards.
"Richard (Carter) is a question mark right now," Farley said. "That was the only set-back today. Richard sprained his foot... We took him in for x-rays. He left at half time... We'll determine where Richard is tomorrow and Monday."
The Panthers host Stephen F. Austin in the Dome next Saturday (Sept. 18th) at 4:05.
"There's as much to learn from this film as there was from last week's film," Farley remarked. "It's just there's a different regard and a different emotion that you watch it with, but there's as much today to learn as there was last week. And if we can do that, then we can make progress for Stephen F. Austin."
