Progress made for UNI football in 24-17 win at Southern Illinois

CEDAR FALLS - Northern Iowa (2-2, 1-0) grabbed its first road win of the season Saturday night, 24-17 against Missouri Valley Football Conference foe Southern Illinois (2-2, 0-1).

A balanced effort that featured 266 yards passing and three touchdowns from Eli Dunne, along with three fourth-quarter turnovers forced by the defense held off multiple opportunities for the Salukis to draw even.

Daurice Fountain continued his outstanding start to the season with seven catches for 106 yards and a score.

Trevor Allen started at running back and carried 18 times for 75 yards. He added an 11-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter to put the Panthers up by 14.

Sam Drysdale opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a 45-yard field goal - tying his career long. Early in the second quarter after an SIU three-and-out, Dunne connected with Fountain on an 11-yard score to make it 10-0 early in the second.

'What I saw there was a poised team. A competitive quarterback and a competitive receiver that made a play under that kind of situation - that's progress,” UNI head coach Mark Farley said in his network post-game interview. 'That's exactly what you look for in these games.”

Matt Sotiropoulos hit a 32-yard field goal to get the Salukis on the board with just over 4 minutes left in the first half. The Panthers were able to answer the Salukis' first score after a 42-yard reception by Fountain that set up a 4-yard touchdown reception by Elias Nissen, making it 17-3 at halftime.

A fumble by Trevor Allen made things interesting in the fourth quarter. Kyron Watson forced Allen's fumble, then, four plays later, Sam Straub found Jacob Varble for a 5-yard touchdown to pull the Salukis within a score at 24-17 with 11 minutes to play.

The Panthers' balanced effort was key in the final moments as the defense took the ball away from Southern Illinois on each of three drives that could have evened up the score at 24.

Korby Sander forced a Varble fumble that was recovered by Suni Lane with just over 9 minutes to play. After a 10-play drive by UNI that chewed plenty of clock but resulted in no points Jake Hartford intercepted Straub off a deflection in the red zone. The Salukis got one more opportunity to score, beginning their final drive at their own 42-yard line with 38 seconds remaining. Straub then threw his second and final interception of the game to Malcolm Washington, sealing the victory for the Panthers.

'They hit a couple on us, but I'll tell you what, our guys stayed in the plan and stayed in it and that was critical because that last drive - to make those last two turnovers - they had their back against the wall and they performed,” Farley said. 'I was so pleased with our offensive unit. The coaches and the players with what they came back and did tonight. Just as much as the defensive guys - the coaches and players and what they did to put the game away with the interception and turnovers down the stretch.”