MARSHALL, Minn. – No. 18 Winona State University put together a complete team effort on Saturday afternoon, toppling Southwest Minnesota State in the third annual "Battle for the Sledge" game, 45-7.
The Warriors scored 45-unaswered points and had six different players score touchdowns in the win.
The Mustangs' lone touchdown of the day followed a fumble on the Warriors' opening offensive drive, but that proved to be the only mishap of the day for the road team.
Winona quarterback Owen Burke engineered an 11-play, 57-yard drive on the ensuing possession that resulted in a 20-yard touchdown pass to Devon Moore and the rout was on from there.
Jake Balliu racked up 104 punt return yards on two attempts, including his second return touchdown of the year, a 79-yard effort in the first quarter. The sophomore now owns Winona's single-season punt return yardage record (481).
WSU capped the trifecta of touchdowns from each phase of the game in the first quarter alone. With the Mustangs backed up to their own goal line late in the quarter, Trey Telez intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown as the Warrior lead swelled to 21-7.
Luke Teague had a tackle-for-loss and Nick Pridgeon recorded a sack prior to the turnover to pin SMSU deep in its own territory.
Winona went into halftime with a 35-7 lead following second quarter scores by Landon Jacobson and Tanner Gran. Jacobson scampered for an eight-yard score while Burke connected with Gran for a six-yard pass late in the first half.
Carter McCauley's 52nd career field goal was the only score of the third quarter, and Sam Santiago-Lloyd rushed for a two-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Jacob Stanislawski forced a Mustang fumble to set up Winona's final touchdown drive.
Romario Gayle led WSU with a season-best eight tackles and was named the Warriors' "Battle for the Sledge" MVP. The sophomore also had three tackles for a loss and one forced fumble. Teague chipped in seven sacks and a sack.
Isaiah Hall, Josh Hawes and Andrew Spencer each contributed to Winona's four defensive interceptions.
Burke threw for 126 yards on 11-of-20 passing and two touchdowns in his second start of the season.
Eric Birth led the running backs with 82 yards, followed by a career-high 70 yards by Jacobson.
Winona State improves to 9-1 (5-1 NSIC South) while SMSU drops to 2-8 (0-6 NSIC South) with its seventh straight loss. The Warriors' nine wins are their most since 2012 (10-2).
WSU will seek its sixth 10-win season in program history next week in the final game of the regular season against Augustana University. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 9 in Winona.
