University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Texas State
UNI Advances to I-AA National Championship With 40-37 Overtime Win
12/9/2005 7:00:00 AM | Football
SAN MARCOS, Texas - The University of Northern Iowa Panthers and the Texas State University Bobcats came out firing in an old fashioned southwest Texas shootout in the NCAA I-AA football semifinals at Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium on Friday evening.
But UNI was able to fire the last shot and advanced to its first-ever NCAA I-AA national championship game with a 40-37 overtime victory over Texas State (11-3). The Panthers (11-3) used a third-straight game-winning field from junior place kicker Brian Wingert (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and a game-ending interception from junior free safety Matt Tharp to advance to the title game. It was the first interception of Tharp's collegiate career.
UNI secured the victory in front of a sellout crowd of 15,712. The contest was also broadcast to a national television audience on ESPN2.
The Panthers advance to the NCAA I-AA national championship game next Friday (Dec. 16) at 7 p.m. (central) in Chattanooga, Tenn. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. UNI will play the winner of tomorrow's other national semifinal between Furman and Appalachian State, which will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. (central).
Texas State came into the contest as the No. 4 seed in the I-AA playoffs and was ranked No. 4 in the Sports Network poll and No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. UNI was not seeded in the I-AA playoffs and was ranked No. 7 in the Sports Network poll and No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Sophomore quarterback Eric Sanders (Oelwein, Iowa) put on an offensive show as he completed his first nine passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Sanders finished the day as his finest so far as a Panther signal-caller. Sanders passed for a career-high 417 yards and tied a career-best with 24 completions.
On the opening drive of the game senior wide receiver Justin Surrency (St. Paul, Minn.) made a leaping 30-yard touchdown reception from Sanders. The score gave UNI a 7-0 lead with 9:49 left in the first quarter.
Junior wide receiver James Lindgren (Odebolt, Iowa) caught a career-best 54-yard pass from Sanders on the Panthers' second drive to move the ball from UNI's 12-yard line to the Texas State 36-yard line. Senior tight end Brian Cutright snared a 12-yard touchdown pass from Sanders to up the advantage to 14-0 with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Texas State got on the board early in the second quarter on a 14-yard scoring strike from senior quarterback Barrick Nealy to senior wide receiver Markee White. The touchdown cut the Panthers' lead in half at 14-7 with 12:43 left in the second quarter.
The UNI offense wasted little time as Sanders continued his perfect start with a 69-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Brian Wingert (Cedar Falls, Iowa) missed the extra point and the Panthers increased the lead by only six points at 20-7. The missed PAT was only the second miss of the season for Wingert
TSU returned the favor offensively on their next possession with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Nealy to freshman wide receiver Adrian Thomas. It was Thomas' first catch of his collegiate career and it came on a play-action pass that left Thomas wide open deep in the UNI secondary. The score came with 10:16 left in the first half and cut the Panther lead to 20-14.
The fastcourt football game slowed down toward the end of the second quarter as the Panthers' defense held inside the 5-yard line and forced the Bobcats to kick a field goal. On a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, UNI senior defensive end John Hermann (Clive, Iowa) sacked Nealy to force the three-point try. TSU kicker Stan Jones then kicked a 29-yard field goal at the 4:39 mark of the second quarter to slice the UNI lead to 20-17.
Texas State looked to have held the UNI offense as the clock wound down under three minutes to play in the half, but a personal foul roughing the kicker penalty against the Bobcats on junior punter Adam Kos' (Kalona, Iowa) punt extended the drive. The Panthers were able to take the clock all the way down to 26 seconds and moved the lead to back to six points, 23-17, on a 41-yard field goal from Wingert.
The Bobcats took a knee on the ensuing possession to leave the score in UNI's advantage at the halftime break, 23-17.
Texas State marched 80 yards on the opening drive of the second half and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run from junior running back Daniel Jolly. The touchdown gave Texas State its first lead of the game at 24-23 with 11:03 left in the third quarter.
The Panthers took the lead back almost immediately as Sanders hooked up with Hunter again, this time for 65 yards on UNI's first play of the second half. UNI's two-point conversion pass failed but the Panthers regained the lead at 29-24 with 10:48 left in the third quarter.
The Bobcats returned serve again on the next possession to take a one-point lead, 30-29, on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Nealy to junior wide receiver Justin Williams. The Bobcats' two-point conversion failed because UNI sophomore free safety Chris Parsons (Moore, Okla.) intercepted Nealy's pass in the end zone.
The Panthers were unable to answer the Bobcats' score on the ensuing drive after Sanders was sacked on third-and-3 and UNI was forced to punt. Texas State moved the ball to the UNI 30-yard line and was faced with a critical 4th-and-3 to keep the drive alive. But the Panthers' pass rush from senior defensive end Michael Matthes (Williamsburg, Iowa) and freshman defensive end Mark Huygens (Seargent Bluff, Iowa) combined to sack Nealy and give possession back to the Panthers.
The momentum the Panthers gained with the defensive stand quickly evaporated as the Texas State pass rush secured two sacks and forced a three-and-out to give the ball back to the Bobcats' offense with 1:56 left in the third quarter.
The Panther defense responded with a stop and forced another Bobcat punt. The UNI offense took over on the 12-yard line as the fourth quarter began. The Panthers were able to drive the ball into Texas State territory and got as deep as the TSU 33-yard line, but could not drive deep enough to score and had to punt the ball back to the Bobcats with 8:13 left in the game.
Freshman punt returner Johnny Gray (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) fumbled the 53-yard punt from TSU's Cory Elolf and it was recovered inside the UNI 10-yard line by TSU's Dominic Giametta. Jolly then scored from two yards out to increase the Texas State lead to eight points, 37-29, with 5:01 left in the game.
With their backs against the wall and the season on the line, the Panthers found a way. Senior running back David Horne (Omaha, Neb.) scored on a two-yard run to pull the Panthers to within a two-point conversion of tying the game. Sanders then rolled left and lofted a pass into the back of the end zone where Surrency grabbed it out of the air and hung on for the game-tying catch. The two-pointer was the first of the season for the Panthers and left the game tied at 37-37 with 1:27 left in the game.
Horne's touchdown allowed him to set the UNI single-season school record with 18 total touchdowns.
Inexplicably, Texas State head coach David Bailiff told his squad to take a knee and the final 1:16 went off the clock without even an attempt to move the ball down the field. Texas State had all three timeouts and seemed happy with its chances in overtime.
The Panthers settled for a field goal in their first possession of overtime as Wingert drilled a 25-yard field goal. The three-pointer gave the Panthers a 40-37 lead and the victory as Tharp's interception ended the game on the Bobcat possession.
Surrency led the UNI receiving corps with eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. Hunter also had a huge receiving game with four catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Horned led the rushing attack with 73 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Tanner Varner led the Panthers with 13 total tackles. Chris Parsons and Dave Schratz each tallied 10 tackles as well.
Nealy led the Texas State passing attack with 221 yards on 16-of-25 passing and three touchdowns. Douglas Sherman led the Bobcats in rushing with 89 yards on 20 carries. White and Tyrone Scott led the Bobcat receivers with four catches each.
NOTES: UNI was making its sixth appearance in the NCAA semifinals ... the Panthers reached the semifinals in 1985, 1987, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2005 ... in each of UNI's previous five semifinal appearances the Panthers lost to the eventual national champion ... the sellout crowd of 15,712 was the third-largest in Texas State's history ... senior running back David Horne became the 17th UNI running back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season ... UNI had lost its previous two postseason overtime games (Dec. 12, 1987 vs. Northeast Louisiana - 44-41 and Nov. 27, 1993 vs. Boston University - 27-21).
