The Wayne State Wildcats football team won its second straight game at Minnesota, Crookston with a final score of 33-14.

“We didn’t really play our best game, ” said Zach Osborne, senior quarterback.

Wayne started the game with four punts, and interception and a fumble on their first six possessions. The game continued with a slow pace on both ends until the end of the first half, when Wayne rattled off three touchdowns in a 2:25 minute span to put the score at 19-7.

At the 3:09 mark in the second half, Osborn connected with Willie Walton on a 21-yard touchdown. This was just the beginning of the scoring surge late in the second half for the Wildcats.

Wayne State took advantage of a short punt of 14 yards after a three and out and took over at the Golden Eagles’ 26-yard-line, where Osborn connected with Nate Rogers on a 25 yard pass for the Wildcats’ second touchdown of the day.

“We took advantage of good field position to get momentum on our side,” said Osborn.

Emile Hope intercepted a UMC pass almost immediately after the previous touchdown to give WSC the ball at its own 32-yard line. The drive ended with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Osborn to Walton once again for a touchdown. This gave the Wildcats a 19-7 halftime lead.

“We got two or three touchdowns right at the end of the first half that got us going and we played pretty well after that,” said Head Coach Dan McLaughlin.

The momentum carried over immediately to the second half for the Wildcats as they scored on their first play from scrimmage with a 76-yard rushing touchdown from Rashad Trimble to open up the lead to 26-7.

“We have got kids that are playing well,” said McLaughlin. “We just have to bring it together and play well as a group.”

Wayne finished with 473 total yards from scrimmage and UMC finished with 407. Osborn threw for four touchdowns on 14 of 23 passing and 253 yards. Wide receiver Walton grabbed six balls for 101 yards and two touchdowns and Nate Rodgers hauled in 5 catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns as well.

“I thought the defense played well again the whole game,” said McLaughlin.

Dwayne Scott was credited with 11 tackles while Tyler Thompson and Ian Ailts were each credited with 10 tackles. Emile Hope had one interception and Ben Elznic scooped up one fumble recovery for WSC.

The Wildcats’ next game is on Saturday at Bob Cunninham Field in Wayne at 1 p.m. against Minnesota Duluth, ranked No. 20.