In a game that featured nearly 100 points and nearly 1,200 yards, it was a defensive stop on the final play of the game that lifted Northern State to a victory Saturday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

Graham Borden deflected a pass on a two-point try in overtime to preserve a 49-48 victory over Minnesota State Moorhead in a Northern Sun Conference Intercollegiate Conference football game.

“You can’t explain it, I wish I had a reason how any of this happens, but you can’t explain it,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt. “I tell these guys all the time, in games like this you don’t know how you’re going to win it, but you just gotta believe.”

On a night where defenses were challenged from the opening whistle, the Wolves produced the biggest stop of all, when Borden denied the Dragons on their two-point conversion after Northern scored on its possession in OT.

“I dropped back and saw a guy wide open,” said Northern linebacker Cooper Logan, “but thank God Graham Borden was there to make that play for us.”

Both teams had double-digit leads in the second half. Northern State led 24-14 at one point, while Moorhead owned a 42-31 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Daniel Britt orchestrated a drive in the closing minutes that produced a game-tying field goal with in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime.

“We do this situation in practice all the time,” Britt said. “Every Wednesday we’re doing two-minute drill.”

Jeremy Caruso calmly nailed a 23-yard field goal and the squad went to overtime

Caruso said it takes a team effort to make a kick.

“It’s pretty cool to have people on the field that want to be there with you,” Caruso said. “We’ve got nine guys blocking for me and one guy gets to hold. It takes a unit to make a kick.”

Northern played without multiple starting players on defense, but still made the play when it needed to.

“When you’ve got guys out there playing that you can trust, you kind of just do your job,” Logan said, “you don’t have to do nothing more or nothing less.”

The Wolves racked up impressive offensive numbers in the shootout.

Britt passed for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and also ran for 132 yards and a score. Wyatt Block rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

Trey Birdsong had 132 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns.

Birdsong said having so many weapons on offense makes it tough for opposing defenses.

“It definitely makes it easy when you have playmakers all around the field,” Birdsong said. “They can’t just guard one person. They have to guard all of us. We have guys making plays left and right.”

The Wolves are now 6-2 on the season and tied for first place in the NSIC North Division.

Schmidt his team has only lost one or two one-possession games in their past dozen attempts.

“We’re really good at this stuff. … They’re just cool under pressure,” Schmidt said of his players.

The Wolves will now head to Sioux Falls to play unbeaten Augustana on Saturday.

The squad will head there with a ton of confidence after three straight home victories.

“We’re so locked in on our identity,” Schmidt said. “We know exactly who we are and we know how we win games. We know how we prepare for games. We know what our recipe is to win.”

To see a complete box score from Saturday’s game, click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/football/stats/2025/msu-moorhead/boxscore/13993