Northern State scored on a one-yard pass on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line in the second overtime to hand Wayne State a heartbreaking 29-26 loss Saturday in Northern Sun Conference football played at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne.
It was the second overtime loss in the last four meetings for Wayne State against NSU (29-27 in 3 OT in 2013) and the fourth straight meeting between the two clubs decided by seven points or less.
The first half was controlled by the visiting Wolves, who held a 17-3 lead at intermission.
Northern opened the scoring with a Payton Eue 38-yard field goal, followed by an 87-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hunter Trautman to Dakota Larson in the first quarter for a 10-0 lead.
Wayne State got on the board with 3:31 to play in the second quarter on a Ethan Knudson 21-yard field goal, but Northern State scored right before halftime on a four-yard pass from Trautman to Greg Lux with three seconds to play, giving the Wolves a 17-3 lead at halftime.
Wayne State scored 10 points in the third quarter to cut the Northern State lead to 17-13. Redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance found Mason Lee on a 26-yard scoring pass following a Northern State fumble with 11:38 to play in the third quarter, and Knudson drilled a 36-yard field goal at the 7:39 mark to get the Wildcats within four going to the fourth quarter.
Northern State took a 20-13 lead on a 41-yard field goal from Eue with 10:29 to play, but later in the quarter Wayne State tied the game as the Wildcats drove 99 yards on six plays under the direction of backup quarterback Tavian Willis. The scoring drive was capped with a 24-yard scoring pass from Willis to tight end Corbin Foster, knotting the score at 20-20 with 3:24 to play.
The two teams traded field goals in the first extra session, with Eue connecting from 36 yards for Northern State followed by a 37-yarder from Knudson to keep the score tied at 23-23 heading into the second overtime.
Wayne State had the ball first in the second overtime and Knudson delivered a 42-yarder, his fourth field goal of the game, giving the Wildcats a 26-23 lead.
Northern State used a 23-yard pass play on the second play of the second overtime to have a first-and-goal at the one. A false start penalty moved the ball back to the six and Wayne State held the Wolves to force a fourth-and-goal, where the Wolves used a bootleg pass and a one-yard score from Trautman to tight end Colton Drageset to finish off the game and give the visiting Wolves the double-overtime win.
McCance, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with a broken left hand, was 12-of-29 for 132 yards with one score and two interceptions while Willis was 5-of-10 for 93 yards and one score.
Lee was the leading Wildcat receiver with seven catches for 90 yards and one score, followed by Foster with four grabs for 59 yards and one score. Deshawn Massey was the top WSC rusher with 62 yards on 16 carries.
Defensively, linebacker Nicholas Joynt had 20 tackles with one sack and a forced fumble. Jalen Burgess and Tyler Thomsen each had seven tackles with Thomsen recording a fumble recovery.
Wayne State (2-5) will be on the road next Saturday, visiting the University of Mary in the final NSIC cross-division contest of the year with kickoff set for 2 p.m. in Bismarck, N.D.
