ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Morris defense forced six Northwestern turnovers, but one big rush and two blocked kicks helped put the Cougars on the losing end of a 20-17 decision Saturday night in UMAC football action in St. Paul.

The Cougars took the opening possession of the game and drove 52 yards in 12 plays to get points on the scoreboard courtesy of an Austin Vanderkooi 30-yard field goal. Branden Carlson was the Cougar catalyst on the drive as he caught three passes for gains of 11, nine, and eight yards and had a rush for seven yards.

Later in the quarter Justin Masloski executed a perfect pooch punt that pinned the Eagles at their own 1-yard line. However, UNW's Payton Bowdry took a quick hand off on the first play of the drive, found a hole and scampered 99 yards down the left side line to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead.

Two possessions later, Preston Fifarek intercepted a KJ Downey pass at the UNW 27 putting the Cougars in great field position. Masloski passes of 13 yards to Nathan Sheridan and nine yards to Carter Geyer down to the 5 ended the quarter. Northwestern held strong to start the second quarter and forced a 24-yard field goal attempt from Vanderkooi which he made to pull UMM within one at 7-6.

Later in the quarter, the Cougars were pinned themselves at their own 1-yard line. Like the Eagles before, the Cougars were able to drive down and score points right before the half. Carlson was again huge for the Cougars as he ran the ball for 16 yards and caught a pass for 16 yards down to the UNW 13 to set up a Vanderkooi 30-yard field goal at the gun to give UMM a 9-7 lead at the break.

Northwestern scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 20-9 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Cougars would not go away though. They forced three Northwestern fumbles in the final stanza with the first fumble recovery leading to a touchdown. Marcos Luna recovered a fumble at the UNW 18. Two plays later, Masloski connected with Geyer on an 18-yard score. Masloski then hit Sheridan for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 20-17 with 12:37 remaining.

UMM would get the ball back two plays later. Brett Jansen recovered a fumble at the UNW 19. The Eagle defense forced a field goal attempt that was blocked.

The Cougars would get another chance on the first play of the next UNW drive. Drew Shipley forced a fumble that Nathan Gehlen recovered at the UNW 17. However like the last drive, the Eagles forced another field goal attempt that was again, blocked, preserving the Eagle lead.

Northwestern forced two Couigar punts on their remaining drives and ran out the clock to gain the three-point win.

Luna recovered two fumbles, made eight tackles, and recorded one sack for the Cougars. Brady Jergenson led with 10 tackles.

Masloski threw for 212 yards and rushed for 48. Carlson caught eight balls for 66 yards and rushed for 34 more. Geyer had four catches for 66 yards and Sheridan caught eight for 62.

Minnesota Morris (2-4, 2-2 in UMAC) is on the road next week for a UMAC contest at Westminster.