WINONA, Minn. – After 30 minutes of football on Saturday afternoon, Winona State University looked poised to not only shake off last week's disappointing loss, but establish itself atop the NSIC South division. The Warriors led No. 2 Minnesota State Mankato at the half, 21-7, only to see the Mavericks score 24-unanswered points in their comeback victory at Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium.
Winona State (2-2) was held off the scoreboard in the second half and suffered its second straight loss while Minnesota State (4-0) rallied to stay undefeated on the season.
Mankato's Nate Gunn ran for three touchdowns in the second half and 103 of his 126 yards after the break. Following Gunn's first scoring scamper in the third quarter, the Warriors looked to pad their lead to 24-14, only to see Nathaniel Gennrich's 25-yard field goal attempt blocked by Mankato. The Mavericks drove down the field to convert a field goal of their own to cut their deficit to 21-17 and the No. 2-ranked team in the country didn't look back from there.
WSU was limited to 68 yards in the second half, including just two yards on the ground. While the NSIC's league-leading rush defense snuffed out the Warrior ground game, the Mavericks also pressured quarterback Owen Burke for the duration of the final two quarters. Burke was sacked five times in the second half and threw a pair of interceptions.
Mankato went 2-4 on fourth-down conversions on the day with the dagger coming on a fourth-and-one deep in WSU territory for Gunn's third score with 3:20 left on the clock; extending the Warrior deficit to 10 points for the final score of 31-21.
Winona State's depth may have finally been challenged by the nationally-ranked Mavericks with the home team missing two of its defensive captains with season-ending injuries among a plethora of setbacks.
Despite all the injuries, the Warriors dominated the first half of action. WSU put points on the board in each of its first four drives after receiving the opening kickoff. Gennrich connected on a pair of field goals, one in each quarter, and the Warriors also found the end zone in the first and second quarters.
Sam Santiago-Lloyd capped a seven-play, 61-yard drive in the first quarter to pad the Warrior lead to 10-0, and Isaiah Frandsen caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Burke late in the second quarter to give the home team a 21-7 advantage. Santiago-Lloyd led the backfield in touches (18) for the third straight game while netting 69 total yards. Frandsen caught four passes for 81 yards.
Redshirt freshman Kenneth Sanders led the WSU defense with a career-best eight tackles. Romario Gayle recorded three solo tackles and his third interception of the season. David Smith also picked off a Maverick pass.
The Warriors are back on the grid iron next weekend looking to return to the win column at Northern State University for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff in Aberdeen, S.D.
