APPLETON, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris football team followed the blueprint it had from last year's home victory over Lawrence University to come away with a 38-22 win over the Vikings on Saturday. The Cougars move to 1-3 on the season as they head into their opening UMAC contest next weekend.

Last year at Big Cat Stadium, Minnesota Morris ran the ball to the tune of 50 carries for 387 yards and five touchdowns. This time around, the Cougars managed to somehow be even more efficient with 47 carries for 393 yards and five scores. Leading the way was Izayah Boss with 20 carries for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Blake Johnson provided another aspect of the Cougar rushing attack as he barreled 17 times for 102 yards and two more scores. Jacob Miranda had the other rushing touchdown with one carry for 26 yards.

Lawrence took the opening kickoff and held onto the ball for more than five minutes before stalling out in Minnesota Morris territory and turning the ball over on downs. The Cougars quickly got to work with a 33-yard completion from Marcus Reeb to Miranda to start things off before four rushing attempts from Johnson took the ball the final 28 yards to make the score 7-0.

The Vikings were able to tie the score up at 7-7 before the first quarter ended, though the period finished off with Minnesota Morris again on the march. After a penalty to begin the second quarter, Miranda took the ball the final 26 yards on a sweep play and Alex Happ's extra point made it 14-7. The defense went to work after that and didn't allow Lawrence to score again before halftime.

After forcing the LU offense off the field, Minnesota Morris used a 54-yard rush from Boss to drive into Viking territory. Though the Cougars weren't able to punch it in, Happ booted a 22-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17-7.

With Lawrence threatening inside the Cougar 10-yard line midway through the second quarter, Carter Maurice had a sack of Viking quarterback Aidan Williams, resulting in a fumble that was fallen on by Maurice at the Minnesota Morris 21-yard line. The Cougars then gouged the Viking defense with big play after big play, needing only seven plays to go 79 yards and take a 24-7 lead that held up into the break.

Coming out of halftime, Lawrence pushed to make it a more competitive game by getting the Minnesota Morris offense off the field in three plays and then going on a 76-yard touchdown drive to slice the deficit to 24-14. Two other Cougar drives in the third quarter also came up empty, though the team was driving as the quarter came to an end.

A fourth-down conversion from Reeb to Sam Jordan got things rolling for Minnesota Morris at the start of the fourth quarter. That drive would eventually end with a two-yard plunge from Boss to increase the Cougar edge to 31-14. 

Taking over after a failed fourth-down conversion from Lawrence, Johnson went over the 100-yard mark with a 10-yard run to start the subsequent Minnesota Morris drive and Boss got to the edge and went 74 yards two plays later to make it 38-14 with eight minutes to play.

The Vikings would score one more touchdown before the game ended and tack on a two-point conversion, but Minnesota Morris used the ground game to milk the clock and eliminate any chance of a Lawrence comeback.

Reeb went 13-of-23 for 114 yards through the air. Miranda had two catches for 42 yards, while Dylan Naughton added four catches for 42 yards. Hunter Infanger made 12 tackles (nine solo) to lead the Cougar defense, with another nine solo tackles – two for a loss – from Greg Ohman. 

Minnesota Morris will begin UMAC play with a trip to Greenville University on Sept. 30 for a 12 p.m. kick-off with the Panthers. Fans making the trek to Illinois should be aware that the contest will be held at Greenville High School.