SAN ANTONIO – The University of the Incarnate Word football team dropped a heartbreaking, 44-41 overtime decision to Northwestern State on Saturday night at Benson Stadium.
 
Jon Copeland went 27-for-36 for 275 yards and two touchdowns. With the two scoring passes, Copeland set the new program record for touchdown passes in a career with 39.
 
Kevin Brown had 21 carries for 116 yards, and now has three games with over 100 rushing yards on the season.
 
Northwestern State took the first lead of the game, closing out an 11-play, 55-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown rush by Jared West to go up 7-0 with 8:49 left in the first quarter.
 
The Cardinals responded, marching down the field in 10 plays and 81 yards, knocking 4:02 off the clock. The drive was highlighted by Brown's 13-yard rush before Copeland used a four-yard quarterback keeper to knot the score at 7-7 with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter.
 
UIW took its first lead of the game with 13:34 left in the second quarter. After forcing the Demons to punt, Copeland found CJ Hardy for a 34-yard reception and connected with Kamden Perry for 18 yards. Carson Mohr then hit a career-best 46-yard field goal as UIW took a 10-7 advantage.
 
The Cardinals' next drive started immediately, with Jacob Harper forcing a fumble on the kickoff return and Shawn Holton recovering to give UIW the ball back in Northwestern State territory. Keyondrick Philio capped the six-play, 27-yard drive with a three-yard rush into the end zone. This score put the Cardinals ahead, 17-7, with 11:33 left in the first half.
 
NSU cut into UIW's advantage with 7:27 left before the break when West used a two-yard run for another score. The touchdown completed the nine-play, 70-yard drive and, following a missed extra point, left UIW with a 17-13 lead.
 
The Demons added another score when Daniel Justino hit a 29-yard field goal as time expired, leaving the Cardinals with a 17-16 advantage at the break.
 
The Cardinals came out of the locker room ready to play, with Jerick Pitre grabbing his second interception of the season on the third play of the half. He returned the ball 32 yards for a UIW score to put the Cardinals up, 24-16, with 13:46 left in the third quarter.
 
UIW continued its momentum, scoring again with 9:23 left in the quarter when Copeland found Mark Sullivan for a 39-yard touchdown pass to give UIW a 31-16 lead.
 
Northwestern State cut into UIW's lead again, this time with 6:31 left in the third, when Stadford Anderson used a two-yard rush to leave the Cardinals with a 31-23 advantage.
 
The Demons scored again with 8:27 left in the game, leaving the Cardinals with a one-point lead (31-30) after West rushed into the end zone from five yards out.
 
UIW extended its advantage, this time to 38-30, when Copeland found Brady Rogers for an eight-yard score with 2:42 left on the clock. With this touchdown pass, Copeland broke the program record for touchdown passes in a career (39).
 
On the final drive, Mar'kel Cooks sacked Eppler to force a fourth and 18 with 1:40 left. After calling a timeout, NSU completed an 18-yard pass to continue the drive. With less than 30 seconds left, Eppler received a snap and had the ball knocked out of his hand, but he picked it back up and found Ash in the end zone for the touchdown. Eppler found Ash again for the two-point conversion, knotting the game at 38-38 and sending the game into overtime.  
 
UIW received the ball first in overtime after the Demons won the coin toss and chose to defend. Copeland found Hardy for a 21-yard gain before Mohr hit a 26-yard field goal to put UIW up, 41-38.
 
On Northwestern State's overtime drive, the Demons went 25 yards in eight plays, scoring on a one-yard pass from Eppler to Quan Shorts to secure the 44-41 victory.
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH ERIC MORRIS
On the game overall…
"Obviously disappointed. I just told them in the locker room, "no finger pointing at all" because all three sides of the ball made key mistakes in this game. That's something that us as coaches need to do a better job of getting these kids mentally prepared. We won in almost every statistical category besides one, and that's the one that counts: the final score. In the second half, I thought we really responded well. And then we muffed a punt and it kind of changed the momentum back their way."
 
On bouncing back…
"We have a really good Nicholls team coming in next week. If we regroup, we'll be pretty good and be able to come back and challenge Nicholls. If not, then we let this thing linger and it could be a bad situation for us going forward. Disappointed to say the least. We just let them hang around and hang around and boom, it blew up. Hats off to them."
 
On losing at home for the first time…
"This is the first time we've lost here, so a little bit of adversity. We came out and played a good 0-7 team, and we didn't come out like we should in the first half. We rebounded good and then had some things not go our way in the second half. But it's all about us being able to respond and go back to being us, doing the little things right, then coming back to compete. It's going to go one of two ways. You're either all in with this team or don't even show up tomorrow."