Box Score EUREKA, Ill. - The Minnesota Morris football team took a halftime lead on the road at one-loss Eureka Saturday, but were unable to score in the second half and dropped the UMAC contest 14-7 to the Red Devils.

After a 3-and-out on the opening possession of the game, the Cougars used a 14-play, 87-yard drive to score the game's first touchdown. Two big runs were key to the lengthy drive. Evan Guffey ran 12 yards on a 3rd-and-10 down to the Eureka 33 for a first down. Two plays later Santana Mejia rushed 20 yards down to the 9 to set up a first-and-goal. After losing a yard on the next two plays, UMM went to the pass on 3rd-and-goal. Donnie Mavencamp completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Holleman to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead  with 4:55 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Eureka had their own lengthy drive in search for the tying score. The Red Devils drove 70 yards in 10 plays, but the drive's 11th play, a Drew Barth pass, was intercepted by Sergio Natividad at the 1. That meant the Cougars would start their next drive in the shadows of their own end zone. After a false start moved the ball even close to their goal line, Evan Guffey was tackled in the end zone by Eureka's Chris Friend on a rush attempt for a safety. UMM would still lead 7-2 going into the break.

On Eureka's second possession of the second half, they drove 12 plays on 63 yards to take their first lead of the game. On a 4th-and-2 from the UMM 4, Barth rushed four yards for the go-ahead score. Eureka led 8-7 after the failed 2-point conversion.

After the Cougars went 3-and-out, Eureka added on their lead on their next drive. Barth connected with John Kuse for a 47-yard scoring strike to give Eureka a 14-7 edge 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Later, Minnesota Morris gained possession of the ball from their own with 3:11 in search of the tying score. They drove down to the Eureka 27 with 35 seconds remaining. Mavencamp's pass on 4th-and-4 was intercepted by Dakota Padilla at the 23 to put an end to the Cougars' comeback hopes.

Mavencamp threw for 97 yards and a touchdown and also led the Cougars in rushing with 39 yards. Holleman led with five receptions for 36 yards.

Defensively, Brady Jergenson led with 17 tackles. Chandler Erickson added 12 tackles while Drew Shipley added 11.

Minnesota Morris (4-4, 4-4 in UMAC) returns home for Senior Day next Saturday against Westminster at Big Cat Stadium at noon.