UND defeats Northern Iowa with a 31-7 win – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS — A year ago, UND traveled to Northern Iowa and was dominated at the line of scrimmage in a frustrating, one-sided contest.

On Saturday, UND flipped the script.

The No. 9 Fighting Hawks defeated Northern Iowa 267-36 and won 31-7 at the Alerus Center.

“We all knew that,” UND linebacker Malachi McNeal said of last year’s 27-0 loss in Cedar Falls. “We kind of talked about it. A few of us got together and said it was time to go. They have two very talented defenders. We wanted to stop them from going downhill and get them to play side by side. “Everyone came to play,” and I’m proud of defending that performance.”

The Fighting Hawks improved to 5-2 while UNI dropped its fifth straight game to 2-5.

For UND, it was a chance to regain confidence after failing badly before a bye week at North Dakota State two weeks ago.

“We said we were going to go one of two ways from here,” McNeal said. “At the moment we are choosing the positive path. Everyone pulled together and focused on preparing to be ready to go this week.”

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

UND ran for just 15 yards at UNI last year, while UNI linebacker and former running back Amauri Pesek-Hickson ran for 180 yards.

This time the Hawks used a balanced, ball-controlled attack to win the frantic battle.

UND completed 75 plays to UNI’s 44, going 9 of 16 on third down while UNI went 2 of 10. In total, the Hawks remained in possession of the ball for more than 37 minutes.

Gaven Ziebarth ran for 83 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown, to give the Hawks a 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Smith added 49 yards and Sawyer Seidl had 56.

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

UNI’s leading rusher was Tye Edwards, who had five carries for 31 yards early in the second half, all but one yard of which came on a 30-yard rush. Pesek-Hickson, the star of last year’s game, finished with four carries for 9 yards.

“We weren’t out there much in the first half and they had about 14 offense plays, so that helps,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “When you score more points, they have to throw the football, so that helps you. We played hard, tackled well and overall our boys were ready to play. Our defensive coaches have done a good job of putting our guys in the right position to make plays that go east and west.

Thanks to a 16-play drive to start the game and a 34-yard Bo Belquist touchdown catch by Simon Romfo, UND led 14-7 and brought the momentum to the home team just before halftime.

Tight end Quincy Vaughn, a former quarterback, lined up in a shotgun formation in the final seconds. In a unique formation with defensive players Kaden Vig and Craig Orlando, Vaughn managed to overcome contact in the backfield to get over the goal line and take a 21-7 halftime lead.

Vaughn’s hard running was indicative of UND’s performance in the run game against UNI.

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

“I think it was a mindset,” Schweigert said. “They were tired in the second half. They were on the field for a long time. Just a lot of hard work up front to stay on the blocks and get our guys into the secondary. There were a lot of hard runs for 6, 7 yards.

UND, which has now won 30 of its last 33 games at the Alerus Center, travels to Youngstown State next weekend.