BISMARCK, ND – Big plays and homecoming heroes were plentiful for the University of Mary in the Marauders 27-21 win over Upper Iowa University. Forced to push back the UMary 2019 Homecoming game one day due to unseasonably poor weather and travel conditions that conspired to keep the Peacocks from arriving in Bismarck until Saturday night, the Marauders came out flying to capture their first win of the season while keeping Upper Iowa winless.

"Our guys played extremely hard," said Marauders head coach Craig Bagnell. "It was great to have our '95 Hall of Fame team on the sideline to give us a little extra juice, a little extra magic. Our guys started off really well out of the gate. We came out strong in the third quarter and we finished the game. Our guys found a way to win. It was exciting to see the guys get over the hump, be jacked up and sing the fight song at the end of the game. This was a fun day."

Back in action after missing the last two games with an injury, Logan Nelson had an incredible performance. The junior quarterback passed for 205 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 129 yards, including a 72 yard romp to set up the Marauders second touchdown and a 49 yard burst for the final UMary score of the day.

Danny Kittner electrified a homecoming crowd that included members of the 1995 UMary football team – inducted into the Marauders Hall of Fame on Friday – with a 71 yard punt return for a touchdown with 4:56 left in the first quarter to give the Marauders a 7-0 lead. The sophomore burst through the first wave of tacklers and outsprinted the coverage to the end zone for his first career return for a touchdown.

Two possessions later, the Marauders drove 86 yards in two plays to double their lead. After Nelson cruised down the left sideline for a 72 yard gainer on play one, he concluded the drive on play two when he hit Garrett Wessinger for a 14 yard touchdown at 12:24 of the second quarter. UIU eventually scored late in the half and UMary entered intermission leading 14-7.

The Marauders delivered the knock-out punch with back-to-back scoring drives to open the second half.

Taking the ball on their 25 yard line, UMary quickly drove the field as Nelson hit Scott Tripp for a 29 yard gain and found Weissinger for another 30. Soon faced with a 3^rd-and-12 from the UIU 14 yard line, Nelson found Leonardo Vecchi in the right back corner of the end zone for the native of Italy's first UMary touchdown.

Working off the excitement of the quick score, the Marauders defensive side forced the Peacocks into a 3-and-out when Isaiah Hubbard sacked Peacocks quarterback Zach Reader for a 3 yard loss on third down.

Provided perfect field position at the Upper Iowa 49, the Marauders needed two plays to score. Following a run for no gain on the first play, Nelson cut back against the grain and galloped 49 yards for the score - the second two-play scoring drive in the game for UMary – as the Marauders increased their advantage to 27-7.

A pair of Peacocks touchdown passes from Reader – a 43 yard strike to Alexander Stevens late in the third quarter before hitting Bralin Simon on a 24 yard scoring pass with 2:01 left in the game – pulled Upper Iowa within 27-21.

The Peacocks never touched the ball again and their hopes were extinguished on two key plays. First, a bouncing onside kick went out of bounds at midfield. Then after forcing the Marauders into a 3-and-23 situation, the Peacocks were whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct call that gave UMary an automatic first down and finalized the victory.

Nelson became the first Marauders player to break 100 yards rushing and 200 yards passing in the same game during the program's NCAA era after just missing this mark in the Minot State game. He completed 13-of-20 passes for 205 yards and two scores with no interceptions. He gained 129 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Tripp added 86 yards rushing as the Marauders finished with 214. The junior also caught two passes for 29 yards.

Luke Little paced the Marauders with 67 yards receiving on three catches. Weissinger had three grabs for 56 yards and a score and Vecchi finished with four grabs for 49 yards and a touchdown.

Kittner, fifth in the nation in all purpose yardage, accumulated 139 yards in the game. He returned one kick for 38 yards, five punts for 98 yards and a touchdown, and ran the ball once for three yards. His streak of three straight 100 yard receiving games was halted as he didn't have a catch in the contest.

Paul Guptill spearheaded a Marauders defense that held the Peacocks to 347 yards. The senior linebacker made 11 tackles – including 3.5 for loss and 1.0 sacks – and forced two fumbles.

Toure' Oliver posted the Marauders first interception of the year and broke up three passes. Jarad Zittleman also broke up three passes, forced a fumble and had 1.5 tackles for loss.

Up front, Hubbard had three tackles for loss, had a sack, forced a fumble and had the team's first fumble recovery of the year. All told, the Marauders had 13 tackles for loss in the game.

Reader had a strong game for Upper Iowa, running for 82 yards and passing for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Simon had seven catches for 71 yards and a score and Stevens posted six catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. Christian Ruff led the Peacocks defense with 2.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

The Marauders next face their biggest challenge of the year with a visit to 3^rd ranked and NSIC-leading Minnesota State University on October 19 in Mankato, MN.

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