FULTON, Mo. – The University of Minnesota Morris football team started out slowly, but got things rolling in the second quarter of an eventual 34-13 win over Westminster College on Saturday. Playing the Blue Jays for the second week in a row, the Cougars picked up the victory in the non-conference matchup between the two and improved to 4-3 overall on the season.

Coming off last week's 45-0 romp by Minnesota Morris, the Westminster defense came out fired up and forced three consecutive three-and-outs from the Cougar offense to start the game. Fortunately, the UMN Morris defense was playing just as well and allowed just one first down to the Blue Jays in the first quarter. As the quarter was coming to a close, Minnesota Morris was on a drive that began on its own 28 but had moved inside the Westminster 35. Converting on fourth down to start the second quarter to keep the chains moving, the Cougars then got on the board with a 14-yard touchdown run by Izayah Boss. Daniel Cortes-Ramirez supplied the extra point to make it 7-0.

The first play of the subsequent drive for Westminster resulted in a fumble recovered by Greg Ohman at the Blue Jay 26. Using the run game effectively against a tiring defense, Blake Johnson ran it in from 11 yards out, though the extra point was missed, leaving Minnesota Morris in front, 13-0.

The Cougars nearly made it six straight quarters without allowing a point to Westminster, but the Blue Jays finally scored with a clock-eating drive of nearly seven minutes late in the first half. A fourth-down conversion early in the drive provided some momentum and Westminster was able to get on the board via an 18-yard touchdown pass from Payton Byerley to Payton Olsson.

Just when it seemed like the second half might get a little close for comfort, Minnesota Morris blew things open in the final two minutes of the quarter. Back deep to return, Garrett Elison took the kickoff 95 yards, going untouched for about the first 80 yards and staking the Cougars to a 20-7 advantage. Suddenly back on offense, Westminster couldn't get anything going and its punt attempt resulted in a bad snap that sent Dawson Brandt back into the end zone. When he failed to kick the ball out for a safety, a scrum ensued and Sam Jordan outworked a pair of Blue Jays to fall on it for the touchdown. The score quickly ballooned to 27-7 in favor of the Cougars at the break.

The third quarter went by fast as neither team could put much together until the very end. Minnesota Morris took over with just under five minutes to go and used a short field to go 52 yards in 11 plays for a backbreaking 34-7 lead just before the fourth quarter began. Nine rushes on the drive accounted for all of the yardage and Johnson collected his second touchdown of the game from two yards out. With reserves in the game in the final 15 minutes, the Cougars wouldn't score again. The Blue Jays added one final score on a 99-yard interception return to bring the deficit back to 34-13 before the game concluded.

On the offensive side of the ball, Marcus Reeb was 9-for-17 for 115 yards through the air. Johnson finished with 14 carries for 57 yards and two scores, while Boss added 11 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown. Dylan Naughton led the Cougars in receiving yardage as he hauled in one catch for 43 yards. 

Hunter Infanger was the leading tackler for Minnesota Morris with eight (five solo) on the afternoon. Alex Emmrich added seven tackles (three solo), including two for a loss. 

Minnesota Morris returns home to Big Cat Stadium on Oct. 28 and will face Crown College at 1 p.m.