WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State football team dug itself a hole it was unable to crawl out of Saturday, falling to No. 14 Sioux Falls 41-28 in front of a season-high 4,719 fans on Homecoming.

Playing its third straight home game against a top-15 team, the Warriors were fairly even with the Cougars in passing yards (230-226), but USF rushed the ball for 208 yards while the Warriors fell short of the 100-yard mark with just 96 net yards.

The Warriors struggled offensively early on, falling behind 14-0 after the first quarter and by the midway point of the second quarter finding themselves down by four touchdowns.  From that point, the Warriors outscored the Cougars 28-13 but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome.

The first of the Sioux Falls scores came at the 11:31 mark when quarterback Luke Papilion scored on a nine-yard rush to make it 7-0.

After a missed field goal on its next drive, the Cougars struck again when Papilion found Nick Stanze on an 8-yard pass to make it 14-0.  After a second missed field goal, Papilion in the second quarter scored his second rushing scamper of the day, this time from 15-yards out to build a 21-0 lead and the Cougars extended it even more with a 35-yard fumble recovery to push the lead to 28-0 with 7:15 to play in the half.

Paul Preston finally got the Warriors on the board a couple minutes later with a 17-yard run to make it 28-7, but USF answered with another touchdown a 27-yard strike from Papilion to Josh Angulo to make it 35-7.

The Warriors were able to make it a game before heading into the locker room thanks to a pair of scores. The lethal Jack Nelson to Josh Mikes combo was back in action as the two connected on passes of 22 yards and two yards less than two minutes apart to make it 35-21 going into the break.

Sioux Falls extended its second half lead to 41-21 after a pair of field goals before Preston found the end zone for the second time with a 31-yard run to post the game's final score of 41-28.

Preston finished the day with 110 yards rushing on 17 carries (6.5 yards per carry) and a pair of touchdowns, giving the sophomore back his third straight 100-yard game and his first career multi-score game.

Nelson went 24-of-47 with three picks – the first three interception game of his career – and a pair of touchdowns while being sacked four times.

Defensively, Ian Murray was the Warriors' leading tackler, recording nine with a tackle-for-loss. Ryan Gerts finished with eight tackles – two for a loss – while Morgan Weaver had seven solo tackles and a tackle for loss.

Jeff Brown put together a strong game on the defensive line with seven tackles – two for a loss. Jarett Wood, meanwhile, had the Warriors' lone sack while leading the team with 2.5 tackles-for-loss and also a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

Winona State (4-4 overall, 1-3 NSIC South) takes to the road for the final time next Saturday when it takes on Augustana at 1 p.m. in Sioux Falls. The Warriors will play their final two regular season games at home.