The Augustana Vikings overcame a 14-16 halftime deficit to take a 37-16 win over the Northern State football team Saturday evening at Swisher Field. The Wolves scored two touchdowns in the first half after picking off an interception and recovering an AC fumble. With the loss, NSU falls to 0-2 on the season before entering NSIC play. Augie improves to 2-1.

Turnovers were the name of the game in this year's version of the annual Northern State / Augustana football game. The Wolves capitalized on Viking errors in the first half, leading to 13 of their 16 points in the game. Thomas Parrott started the game with a 30-yard field goal in NSU's first possession, putting the Wolves up 3-0. The good times continued to roll as Lance York picked off a pass from AC's Daniel Millus and returned the ball 65 yards for a touchdown. The extra point put Northern up 10-0 at the 3:32 mark of the first quarter.

Augustana responded with a touchdown in their first possession of the second quarter, a 32-yard touchdown pass to Brett Andrews to set the score at 10-7 in favor of NSU. The Vikings blocked a punt in the next NSU possession and returned the ball 32 yards to take a 14-10 lead. The Wolves caught their next break when Augie had the ball next. AC's quarterback fumbled the snap and Joshua Nazaire picked up the loose ball to give the Wolves a new shot on offense. It took just one play, a 19-yard rush by Tyson DesCamps, for Northern to regain the lead. A missed 2-point play set the score at 16-14, which was the mark at halftime.

Northern was unable to get much going in the second half of the game. They only reached Viking territory twice and never got past the visitor's 33-yard-line in the final two quarters. Turnovers were a problem for the Wolves. 16 of Augie's 23 second half points were scored after NSU turnovers. The Vikings tacked on three touchdowns and a field goal before the game was out to take a 37-16 win.

The Wolves had 205 yards of offense, 118 from passing and 87 from rushing. Wanner completed 12 of 22 passes for 61 yards. Brian Jark was the team's top receiver with four catches for 45 yards, including a long catch of 23 yards. DesCamps gained 43 yards rushing in nine attempts. Tavis Ve'e had 37 rushing yards, including a 23-yard long rush. Bryar Johnson and Jon Peckham led the defense with seven tackles each, followed by Joshua Carpenter with six. Johnson notched 2.5 tackles for a loss of six yards. Kyle Bowman had two tackles for loss and Ryan Olerud had a quarterback sack that set AC back ten yards. Nate Beulah picked off a pass in the first half and ran 17 yards before being tackled.

Augustana totaled 366 yards of offense. 217 came from passing and 149 were from rushing. The team had a slight edge in time of possession, controlling the ball for 33:45 in the game. Daniel Millus completed 11-of-23 passes for 195 yards and threw two touchdowns. Ellingworth was his top receiver, netting 102 yards. Koopman led the Augie defense with eight tackles, including two for a loss of ten yards.

The Wolves open conference play next weekend, hosting Concordia-St. Paul in a 1:00 pm game at Swisher Field in Aberdeen, S.D.