DURHAM –There will be no trip to Texas for the University of New Hampshire football team. Not this season anyway.
UNH came up short in its attempt to reach the FCS national championship game, falling to Illinois State 21-18 Saturday night in the semifinal round. It’s the second consecutive year UNH’s season has ended in the semis.
Illinois State trailed by 12 points entering the fourth quarter, but outscored UNH 15-0 in the final 15 minutes. The top-seeded Wildcats completed their season with a 12-2 record.
“We played much better on defense in the second half,” ISU coach Brock Spack said. “We hung in there and were able to win it in the fourth quarter.”
Fifth-seeded Illinois State (13-1) will play second-seeded North Dakota State (14-1) for the FCS national championship game Jan. 10 in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State, which has won the last three FCS titles, beat UNH in the semifinals last season.
The Wildcats led 7-3 after one quarter, 15-6 at halftime and 18-6 entering the fourth.
“Credit goes to them,” UNH coach Sean McDonnell said. “They kept playing. Kept playing. I don’t know if we got worn down, but some of their guys made some plays at the end.”
ISU pulled within five points, 18-13, when running back Marshaun Coprich scored on a 2-yard run and Nick Aussieker added the point-after kick with 14:15 to play, and then took the lead on quarterback Tre Roberson’s 47-yard TD run with 7:55 left. Jon-Marc Anderson ran in the conversion, which put the Redbirds in front 21-18.
The go-ahead touchdown drive covered 89 yards in nine plays.
“It was a quarterback draw,” Roberson said. “I didn’t really have to do much, but run straight. Marshaun led me through. My job wasn’t hard.”
UNH drove to the ISU 46-yard line on the possession that followed Roberson’s TD, but turned the ball over on downs when quarterback Sean Goldrich completed a pass to Kyon Taylor for no gain on a fourth-and-3 play with 4:08 left.
Goldrich completed 19 of 33 passes for 214 yards. He was intercepted once, and overthrew two long passes to R.J. Harris in the second half when Harris was behind the ISU defense. “They always talk about winning or losing a game by inches — I think that was one of them,” Goldrich said. “I know I had some bad throws in there. We had couple missed opportunities that’s for sure. We didn’t execute. Give them credit. We just didn’t play our game.”
The Redbirds sealed the victory when they converted on a fourth-and-1 play on the UNH 32 with 1:34 to play, which allowed them to run out the clock.
UNH placekicker Brad Prasky provided the only scoring in the third quarter when he made a 25-yard field goal that increased UNH’s lead to 18-6 with 10:45 left in the quarter.
The biggest play in the first half was a Roberson fumble that UNH defensive back Dougie Moss recovered on the UNH 1-yard line and returned to the UNH 4. The Wildcats then put together a nine-play, 96-yard drive — their longest drive of the season — that ended with NIco Steriti’s 6-yard touchdown run. Andy Vailas ran in the two-point conversion, which gave UNH a 15-3 lead with 12:34 remaining in the second quarter.
Goldrich scored UNH’s other first-half touchdown on a 4-yard run. Prasky’s PAT handed the Wildcats a 7-3 lead.
ISU received two field goals from Aussieker in the first half. He opened the scoring with a 33-yard kick, and capped the first-half scoring when he made a 23-yard field goal with 1:45 left in the second quarter.
Steriti finished the game with a game-high 100 yards on 19 carries.
“We fell short of what we really wanted, but I think when we look back when we’re older we’ll be real proud of it,” Steriti said. “I think right now it’s just going to hurt for a little bit.”
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