Box Score Kearney, Neb. - The Wayne State University (Mich.) Warriors scored the game's first 31 points, and forced six turnovers, to beat 4th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, 38-26, Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Division II second round playoff game at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium.

Wayne (10-3), the sixth seed in the six-team "Super Regional 3", advances to a national quarterfinal game next Saturday at defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth. The fourth-seeded Bulldogs upset region top-seed and No. 1 ranked Colorado State-Pueblo, 24-21, today in Colorado. 

For the seventh time this fall, UNK had at least three or more turnovers in game. Today's three interceptions and three lost fumbles led to 21 Warrior points.

"We've fought turnovers all year long. I think that came back and got us,"  said UNK head coach Darrell Morris. "We just spotted them way too many points."

After Wayne took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead, Warrior senior safety Jeremy Jones picked off Loper senior QB Jake Spitzlberger (Lakewood, Colo.) on UNK's first offensive play. 
 
Jones, who came in with a team-high six picks, zigged and zagged his way down the field for a 47-yard TD and a 14-0 lead.

On the Lopers next possession, they fumbled on second down to give the Warriors possession at the UNK 27 yard line. However, the Kearney defense stiffened and got the ball back on downs.

UNK then went down the field on its third drive, only to punt after failing to covert 3rd and 7 from the Warrior 48-yard line. The UNK defense recorded another stop and Wayne was forced to punt from its end zone.

With winds gusting over 50 miles per hour, the Lopers were looking at good field position. However, the punt instead bounced off a UNK player and Wayne recovered the loose ball. This turnover, luckily, led to no points as Wayne missed a 36 yard field goal.

The tough breaks continued as, on UNK's fourth drive, a 2nd and 7 pass from the Warrior 45-yard line bounced off a Lopers hands and into the hands of Jones. He was again hard to bring down as he brought the ball back 66 yards to the Kearney four-yard line.

On the next play, sophomore RB Toney Davis scored.

Jones struck again on the next Kearney drive as he picked off another ball that bounced off a Loper receiver. He brought this pick back 31 yards to the Kearney 26-yard line.

Three players later, on 3rd and 10, Warrior QB Mickey Mohner found senior WR Troy Burrell for a short gain and he raced almost untouched for a 28-0 lead.

Wayne's final first half points came after a short punt that gave them the ball at the Loper 33-yard line. Sophomore Stefan Terleckyj nailed a 43-yard field goal with 2:07 left in the second quarter.

UNK's offense got on track in the second half as it produced four TD's in seven drives. Two of the scoring drives came in the game's final minute with the last one coming afer the Loper recovered an on-side kick.

While Kearney moved the ball better, the Warriors stopped the Lopers to start the third quarter as a 4th and 9 pass from Spitzlberger fell incomplete at the WSU 33-yard line.

Kearney then fumbled on its next drive as Wayne junior defensive end Greg Haase hit Spitzlberger at the WSU nine-yard line. This marked Haase's second forced fumble of the game.

Thanks to a big second half, UNK ran 94 offensive plays for 434 yards. With an average field position of its own 45-yard line, Wayne didn't have a lot of long drives and thus ended up with 68 plays for 329 yards.

Individually, Spitzlberger ran 25 times for 92 yards and one TD and was 19 of 40 for 230 yards, one TD and three INT's. He finishes the year with 1,077 rushing yards, the 13th 1,000-rushing yard season in school history.

In his final collegiate game as well, senior RB Rustin Dring (Kearney) had 25 carries for 101 yards and one TD along with four catches for 28 yards.

Junior Adam Lehner (Hastings) had one of his best days as a Loper as he caught seven balls for 88 yards and a TD. Also, junior Tommy Flanagan (Golden, Colo.) had five receptions for a team-high 90 yards.

Wayne carried the ball 51 times for 207 yards and three TD's. UNK came in giving up 79.9 yards on the ground and had allowed only four rushing scores all season.

Senior RB Josh Renel finished with 26 carries for 121 yards and two scores with Davis at 22 carries for 69 yards. In the passing game, Mohner was 8 of 17 for 122 yards, one TD and no INT's.

Of note, Wayne technically lost two fumbles but they came on two on-sides kick plays in the final minute.

Defensively, junior safety Sam Kuck (Central City) had eight solo stops among his game-high 13 tackles with Grand Island natives Kellen Werner (11) and Pete Kropp (eight) having big efforts.

Up front, sophomore DT Sandi Stanback (Boys Town) and junior Justin Thiel (Adams Central) each made seven tackles.

For Wayne, Jones ended up with seven tackles and three INT's for 144 returns yards. Linebacker Jordan Miller led the way by making 12 tackles.