WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State football team had its chances against the nation's third-ranked team, but fell to the Mavericks 44-24 Thursday night at Warrior Stadium.

The Warriors put up the first points of the game early in the first quarter when freshman kicker Carter McCauley split the uprights from 21 yards out – the Warriors' first field goal conversion of the season – for a 3-0 lead.

The Mavericks answered quickly with a four play, 62-yard drive lasting just 1:15 that culminated with a four-yard rush by Connor Thomas to put MSU up 7-3.

MSU struck again with under a minute left in the first half on a 53-yard connection from Ricky Lloyd to Dorian Buford to make it 14-3.

A three-yard run by Andy Pfeiffer midway through the second quarter made it 21-3 and the Mavericks made it 28 unanswered points with 4:25 to play in the half when other quarterback Nick Pieruccini found Bryce Duncan on a seven-yard pass to make it 28-3.

The Warriors finally found the end zone just over a minute before halftime thanks to a 17-yard strike from Jack Nelson to Josh Mikes to make it 28-10 at the break.

Pfieffer's second touchdown of the day – this time from 13 yards out – opened up a 35-10 lead with nine minutes to play, but the Warriors answered when Mikes caught his second touchdown of the day – and NSIC-leading ninth of the season – to make it 35-17.

An unlucky play led to the Mavericks' final touchdown in the fourth quarter when Davonte Willcox-Ransom had a ball go off his hands and into those of MSU's Buford for a 56-yard touchdown to bring the score to 42-17.

Cameron Johnson got in on the action just 30 seconds later with a long score of his own, this time a 57-yard touchdown from Nelson to make it 42-24.  The Mavericks would add one final safety to make it a 44-24 final score.

Nelson went 23-of-44 for 292 yards and three touchdowns while being sacked six times and throwing one interception.

Sophomore running back Paul Preston went over 100 yards for the first time in his career, rushing for 101 yards on 17 attempts for a solid 5.9 yards per carry.

Mikes finished the day with six catches for 68 yards and a pair of scores, while Preston also caught five balls for 29 yards.  Johnson led the team in receiving yards with 78 while Alan May caught four passes for 75 yards.

Collin Corcoran was the game's leading tackler, wrapping up 12 Mavericks while also accounting for a sack.  Morgan Weaver and Andrew Spencer each had eight tackles, while Weaver and Kubler each had a full sack.  As a team, the Warriors had five sacks in the game.  Larry Mbayu and Davonte Willcox-Ransom each picked off passes for WSU.

Winona State (3-3) now takes its three-game losing streak to Fayette, Iowa on October 18 to face the currently-unbeaten Upper Iowa Peacocks in a 6 p.m. matchup.