SUU football: T-Birds battle back to beat North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Brad Sorensen threw for a career-high 413 yards and two touchdowns, Tysson Poots had 210 receiving yards and a score and Southern Utah rallied past North Dakota 31-21 on Saturday.

Sorensen completed 35-of-46 passes, and Fesi Sitake added 12 catches for 107 yards and a TD for the Thunderbirds (2-4, 1-0 Great West), who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Jake Landry threw two touchdown passes and Joel Schwenzfeier returned an interception 100 yards for a score for the Fighting Sioux (2-4, 0-2), who led 14-0 after the first quarter.

Major Gray found the end zone on a 1-yard run early in the second as Southern Utah scored the game's next 31 points. Sorensen followed with TD passes of 7 and 12 yards.

After a field goal by Brock Miller, Austin Minefee capped the Thunderbirds' scoring with a 12-yard run in the fourth.

The SUU defense held North Dakota to 173 yards of offense, and just 113 after the Fighting Sioux's opening drive. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds' offense piled up a season-best 509 yards.

North Dakota was rolling early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead after cashing in on a 7-yard TD pass from Landry to Greg Hardin on the opening drive of the game. The Fighting Sioux then spoilied SUU's first drive when Schwenzfeier intercepted a pass in the UND end zone and returned it all the way for a touchdown.

"That was a crazy way to start a football game, but you've got to give the North Dakota offense credit," SUU Coach Ed Lamb noted. "In my mind (the touchdown drive) was the one that was more concerning than the interception return.

"Over the course of a game, we think we're going to get our share of interceptions or big plays, but their offense really marched it down. They had some nice plays, some misdirection, played at a fast tempo, played really spirited."

Southern Utah's defense stiffened throughout the remainder of the half, however, allowing the Thunderbirds to come back to tie the game at 14-14 when Sorensen found Sitake for an 8-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds to go in the first half. The T-birds had cut the deficit in half on Gray's one-yard TD run early in the second quarter.