BISMARCK, ND –  The University of Mary football team was energized early by a pair of explosive plays before a big play late by Northern State University led the visiting Wolves to a 28-23 win over the Marauders on Senior Day.  
 
Luke Little and Jason Hoekstra combined for a 75 yard scoring strike on the first play of the game before the freshman quarterback connected with senior Colton Farmer for a 39 yard touchdown pass on the Marauders second possession. Those two plays – plus another touchdown pass to Little - allowed UMary to take a lead late into the game.
 
The Wolves found their big play late, taking Northern State's first lead of the game on an 81 yard touchdown pass with 6:40 remaining in the Northern Sun North division matchup. NSU scored the last 12 points in the game, all in the fourth quarter, to rally for the win.
 
Facing a stiff wind from their own 25 yard line after the opening kickoff sailed through the end zone for a touchback, no one expected the Marauders (0-9 overall/NSIC, 0-5 NSIC North) to go deep on the first play of the game. But go deep they did. Hitting Little over the top of the Wolves (3-6, 2-3) defense, the UMary sophomore wide receiver easily outran the Wolves defenders over the final 50 yards of a career-long 75 yard touchdown on a play taking just 11 seconds.
 
Northern State responded with a field goal and again sent the subsequent kickoff through the end zone for a touchback.
 
Instead of going deep, the Marauders stayed with runs and short passes, eventually arriving at the Northern State 39 yard line for a 4^th-and-3. Streaking down the slot, Farmer hauled in the Hoekstra pass beyond the closest Wolves defender and - just like Little - outran the Wolves defenders for the score and a 13-3 lead at 7:27 of the first quarter.
 
The Wolves immediately followed when Dakota Larson caught a 40 yard touchdown pass from Hunter Trautman to pull NSU within 13-10.
 
With the defenses soon settling down, it was a fumble recovery by UMary's Johnny Tillman that gave the Marauders their next points, leading to another Little touchdown. Keyed by Little receptions of 27 and 23 yards, the Marauders pushed their advantage to 20-10 when the Bismarck Century product caught a 3 yard pass from the Bismarck Legacy graduate.
 
An offensive-oriented opening half ended 20-16 when Northern State reached the end zone with 90 seconds remaining.
 
Defense dominated the third quarter as the two teams combined for five first downs and under 100 yards of offense. The Marauders posted the only points on a Brody Riggs 40 yard field goal at the 9:23 mark to increase the UMary advantage to 23-16.
 
An interception by freshman Maxwell Askew then presented the Marauders a golden opportunity to expand their lead, setting UMary up at the Northern State 45 yard line. Immediately Hoekstra found DeShawn Gay streaking down the right sideline for a 41 yard gain to the Wolves 4 yard line. Following a run for no gain and a run for a loss of a yard by the Marauders, Northern State was whistled for defensive holding to give UMary a first down at the 3 yard line. After a pair of running plays lost a yard and a pass fell incomplete, the Marauders field goal attempt of 21 yards was blocked on the final play of the third quarter.
 
The defensive battled continued in the final stanza. A Northern State interception set up a 33 yard Jacob Weidrich field goal with 10:28 remaining to pull the Wolves within 23-19.
 
Forcing the Marauders to punt on their next possession, the Wolves took over at their own 19. On Northern State's first play, Trautman found Jacob Streit down the middle of the field for an 81 yard touchdown pass. After the extra point, the Wolves held their first lead of the game 26-23 and 6:40 remaining in the game.
 
The Wolves defense then produced three sacks and a safety on UMary's next two possessions to seal the contest.
 
Little finished with eight catches for 162 yards and two scores. Gay added three catches for 60 yards. Farmer had the lone scoring catch of 39 yards and added a team-high 37 yards rushing.
 
Hoekstra finished with his best numbers of the season, completing 15-of-30 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns with only one interception.
 
Askew finished with six tackles, an interception and a pass breakup. Jackson Grad had 1.5 sacks in the game. Cyrano Rayfield and Daniel Hudrlik also had sacks and Devon Macias shared a sack with Grad.
 
Trautman completed 19-of-32 passes for 333 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Streit caught five passes for 127 yards.
 
Brayden McNeary had three sacks for Northern State and Noah McPherson had two. McPherson finished with 2.5 tackles for loss, 12 tackles and an interception.
 
The Marauders next visit 5^th ranked University of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday, November 3^, at 1 pm, the first of two road games to conclude the 2018 season.
 
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