Northern State was in search of one more play and Ar’Shon Willis made it.

The Wolves had watched their 23-point lead evaporate to a single point and 24th-rated Minnesota State had the momentum and the ball in the closing minutes. Willis picked off a pass with 54 seconds left to secure the 23-22 victory and give Northern it’s first win over the Mavericks since 1971 and just its second all-time in the series.

“That’s a big win for the program and a big win for these guys. That’s a program we haven’t beaten in 51 years,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt. “We knew it was going to be tough. I told these guys all week, I don’t know how we’re going to win this game, but we’re going to win this game.”

The thrilling Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football win in front of 5,378 loud fans set off a celebration at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

While there were many years in the past five decades where the two teams had not played each other, the fact remained that Northern had lost 10 straight games to the Mavericks, including one last season in overtime where the Wolves were unable to hold on to a late lead.

“There was definitely a moment of not again down the stretch after giving up a lead last year,” Schmidt said.

It appeared that Northern would not need any late-game heroics, building a 23-0 lead on the opening play of the final quarter when Payton Eue kicked his third field goal of the contest.

To that point in the game, the Wolves dominated on both sides of the ball. Will Madler took over the offense and provided a spark, rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown and passing for 113 yards and a TD.

“He made plays with his feet, he made plays with his arm, he made plays with his brain,” Schmidt said. “He really helped us out down the stretch and played a really solid game.”

Madler and the offense were the benefactors of a couple of short fields as the Northern defense forced five turnovers in the contest.

“They played outstanding,” Madler said. “They gave us great field position.”

It was the defense that needed to come up big with the game on the line.

After the Mavericks scored on three straight possessions to close the margin to within three points, the Wolves were forced to punt out of their own end zone and Minnesota State blocked it. The ball caromed out of the end zone for a safety closing the score to a single point with 1:31 remaining.

That put the Northern defense back on the field one more time. The Mavericks quickly moved the ball to the Wolves’ 40-yard line. However, Willis intercepted an overthrown pass and sealed the victory.

“As a competitor you always want to be on the field,” Madler said of crunch time, “but there’s a reason this game is played with 11 guys on defense as well.”

Willis said he was the free player on defense and saw what was transpiring in front of him.

“I seen the dude cut up and I seen that it was overthrown,” Willis said, “so I had to take advantage of that opportunity.”

It was the fourth and final interception by the NSU defense and undoubtedly the biggest play that Willis has ever made.

“It’s still unreal right now,” Willis said. “I’m still shaking. I can’t believe it.”

The Wolves, 2-1 on the season, have another test coming up, playing at unbeaten Augustana on Saturday.

Schmidt said the key is make sure that his team brings the same type of effort and energy week after week, regardless of who the opponent is.

“That’s the first thing we said to them in the locker room was, now can you match that intensity the rest of the way?” Schmidt said. “When you’re taking over a program, that’s the hard part, is teaching them that that’s how you prepare and play every week.”

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https://nsuwolves.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=12762