SUU moved the ball downfield on its first two possessions, getting inside the five yard line both times but the Red Storm defense stiffened each time, making the Thunderbirds settle for field goals. Senior Ryan Griffith, a converted wide receiver who was kicking in a game for the first time since high school, was perfect however, hitting those first two, from 21 and 20 yards out, and all five of his attempts on the night. The five field goals in a game set an SUU single-game record.

            Dixie scored the first touchdown of the game, on a 2-yard Tauni Vakapuna run midway through the second period, which capped a 10-play, 69 yard drive.

            That score seemed to fire the Thunderbirds up, however as SUU went on to score 14 points in the final seven minutes of the half. The first was a 3-yard pass from Cade Cooper to Fesi Sitake, and the second came on a 10-yard pass from Ammon Olsen to Jared Ursua just 1:01 later.

            Colin Pretlow and Robert Takeno did their part in setting up the second touchdown. A Pretlow hit on DSC receiver Skyler Ence forced a fumble and Takeno picked it up on the 32 yard line and ran it into the end zone. An official's inadvertent whistle denied Takeno his score, however, but Olsen and Ursua made sure the Thunderbirds were not completely denied.

            “That was an unfortunate call but the official was man enough to admit he made a mistake,” SUU Coach Ed Lamb said. “In a game where there were no breaks we finally got one. Fortunately we were able to punch it in.”

            Dixie State nearly pulled back within one score as time wound down in the half, but Akeem Anifowoshe knocked Ence out of bounds on the 2-yard line on a 22-yard reception as time expired in the period to maintain a 20-7 Thunderbird lead at the break.

            SUU's defense took over in the second half, holding the Red Storm to just 15 third quarter yards and 56 in the fourth. Meanwhile, SUU got another Cooper-to-Sitake touchdown and three more Griffith field goals the rest of the way.

            SUU finished with 433 total yards to 215 for Dixie State.

            “This is a nice win,” Lamb said. “We had a lot of questions to address. We had not only inexperienced players at some key positions but also our coaching staff doesn't have the years of experience Dixie State has.”

            Cooper “did everything we hoped he would do,” Lamb noted, and he said he was also pleased with the rushing game, which finished with 244 yards, the team's most in a game in two seasons, including a 147-yard effort from sophomore tailback Austin Minefee.

            “That's what we've worked on, running the football,” Lamb said. “The bad thing is we weren't able to punch it in in the red zone, that's something we have to work on.”

            “It was fun being able to get in and contribute like that,” Minefee said. “It's nice to be able to contribute. The line did a great job making holes for me, I was able to just hit the hole and make a cut.”

            Cooper completed 16-of-19 passes for 179 yards and the two scores and was also the team's second-leading rusher with 48 yards on seven carries without a sack. Sitake finished with eight receptions for 91 yards while Ursua had five catches for 66 and tight end Abbel Aiono had four receptions for 32 yards.

            Thompson completed 16-of-27 passes for 146 yards but was intercepted once, on an athletic tip-and-catch play by SUU linebacker Drew Willard. Vakapuna led the Red Storm with 50 yards rushing on 13 carries.

            Erron Vonner led the Thunderbirds with eight tackles while Anifowoshe had six and Takeno had five. Nick Cragin paced DSC with 14 stops, nine solo.

-- SUU --