ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Eagles (6-3, 6-0 UMAC) won the 2024 UMAC Football Championship on Saturday afternoon in a 42-34 victory over the Greenville University Panthers (6-3, 4-2 UMAC). The conference title is the second in the past three years for the Eagles.
The Eagles took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter as Sivert Klefsaas capped off a 16-play, 89-yard Northwestern drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Greenville answered early in the second quarter by recovering a UNW fumble at Northwestern’s 39 yard line and finding the endzone five plays later on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Max Lynch to Terrance Brown. The Eagles’ Edward Dyer blocked the ensuing extra-point attempt to keep a 7-6 lead for Northwestern.
The Panthers went on to take the lead with 1:12 remaining in the opening half as Adrian Hinton finished a 13-play, 91-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
The lead would be short lived, however, as Luke Malamisuro returned the ensuing kickoff 63 yards to the Greenville 19-yard line, setting up a 19-yard touchdown pass from Caden Cantrell to Jah’Kiing Joseph to put UNW up 14-13.
At the half, Northwestern led 14-13 over Greenville.
The Eagles received the second-half kick. On their second play of the half, Klefsaas broke free for a 58-yard touchdown run to put Northwestern up 21-13.
Greenville responded immediately as LaShawn Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to the Eagles endzone to bring the Panthers right back within one point, trailing 21-20.
Northwestern went on to run an eight-play, 68-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard run from Cantrell to retake an eight-point lead, up 28-20.
Greenville faced a fourth-and-four at Northwestern’s 24-yard line on their next drive. The Panthers would go for it, but the Eagles defense forced an incompletion to give the ball back to their offense.
Cantrell found Beau Burk for a 52-yard completion on the ensuing drive to move the Eagles into Greenville’s territory, and then scrambled for a seven-yard touchdown run to give Northwestern a 35-20 lead.
Trialing 35-20 going into the fourth quarter, the Panthers answered with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Lynch to Williams. Greenville would go for two, but the pass would fall incomplete, leaving Northwestern with a nine-point lead up 35-26 with 12:58 to go.
Northwestern went on to score once more with a seven-play, 87-yard drive that was jump started with a 55-yard run by Klefsaas and finished with a one-yard touchdown run by Klefsaas for his third score of the day.
The Panthers would score once more with a 32-yard touchdown run by Hinton, but the Eagles defense made one more stop and their offense converted a four-and-one with 1:55 to go to let Northwestern take victory formation to run out the clock and secure the 42-34 championship victory.
With the conference championship victory, Northwestern has earned the UMAC’s automatic bid and will advance to compete in the NCAA DIII Tournament starting on November 23.