GREENVILLE, Ill. – The University of Minnesota Morris football team sent a strong message to the rest of the UMAC with a 24-10 road win over Greenville University on Saturday afternoon. The victory improves the Cougars to 2-3 (1-0 UMAC) on the season.

The game started well for Greenville, but an early score would turn out to be its only touchdown of the day. Following three-and-outs for both offenses, a Panther punt was fumbled and recovered by Greenville just outside the Minnesota Morris red zone. Three plays later, the Panthers had the ball in the end zone on a four-yard completion from Peyton Bates to Terrance Brown.

Before the first quarter ended, Chayce Meyer snuffed out another Greenville opportunity. The reigning UMAC Defensive Player of the Year was in the right spot at the right time to scoop up a bobbled pitch from Bates to Adrian Hinton and return the fumble inside the Panther 20-yard line. Though Minnesota Morris couldn't punch it in, Alex Happ was able to boot a 34-yard field goal to get the Cougars on the board.

Mistakes for Greenville continued to pile up in the second quarter. On the first possession of the quarter for the Panthers, a 32-yard touchdown pass was wiped off the board by a holding call and Greg Ohman intercepted Bates on the next play to end the threat. 

Taking over on their own 30-yard line, the Cougars went to the ground on seven straight plays to move inside the Greenville 5-yard line before hitting the Panthers over the top with a four-yard completion from Marcus Reeb to Carter Watnaas. The extra point put Minnesota Morris on top, 10-7. A late Greenville drive ended with a 24-yard Lucas Hermo field goal after the holder handled a tough snap and got the ball down in the nick of time, making it 10-10 at the half.

After forcing Greenville off the field on the opening drive of the third quarter, Minnesota Morris embarked on clock-eating 12-play drive that included a pair of third-down conversions before Reeb connected with Jacob Miranda in the back corner of the end zone to put the Cougars ahead, 17-10.

The Minnesota Morris defense would handle things from there. Greenville had four possessions the rest of the game, with two ending on turnovers on downs, one on a punt, and the backbreaker on a pick-six by Sean Diakite to push the game out of reach. Diakite stepped in front of an out route in front of the Cougar sideline and raced 55 yards on the return with 10 minutes remaining to make it 24-10. The final Panther drive ended inside the Minnesota Morris 10-yard line as the defense held on fourth down and the offense drained the remainder of the game clock.

Reeb went 10-for-20 through the air for 103 yards and two scores. Izayah Boss was the leading rusher with nine carries for 53 yards. Blake Johnson added 17 carries for 43 yards. Ethan Tang hauled in four passes for 54 yards.

Alex Emmrich and Hunter Infanger each ended with 11 tackles in the contest. Greg Ohman had nine tackles (three for a loss) to go with his interception while Meyer had eight tackles (three for a loss and a sack) in addition to his fumble recovery.

After the fumbled punt early in the game, Minnesota Morris would not turn the ball over the rest of the way while Greenville went on to commit three turnovers. The Cougars committed two penalties in the game, while the Panthers were flagged 11 times for 100 yards.

Minnesota Morris has a bye week next weekend, returning home to Big Cat Stadium to host Westminster College (Mo.) on Oct. 14 at 12 p.m.