Amauri Pesek-Hickson picked up a fumble from his backfield buddy and carried it 10 yards into the end zone for the winning touchdown that gave Northern Iowa a 17-10 victory over St. Thomas-Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.

The Tommies lost their second home game in a row at the start of the season.

Northern Iowa’s only lead of the game came on the final touchdown, which capped a seven-play, 90-yard drive. Tye Edwards opened the drive with a 56-yard dash to give the Panthers a first down at the Tommies’ 34-yard line. St. Thomas appeared to stop UNI on fourth down at the 25, but was penalized for an illegal substitution penalty on fourth down. On second-and-5 at the 15, Edwards ran for five yards before fumbling, which Pesek-Hickson recovered and raced the final 10 untouched.

Patrick Wagner caught a 13-yard pass from Michael Rostberg to give St. Thomas a 7-0 lead after the first quarter.

Pesek-Hickson scored from the 3 early in the second period to tie the game. Stephen Shagen missed a couple of short field goal attempts before nailing a 50-yarder late in the third period to put the Tommies ahead, 10-7. Caden Palmer scored from 19 yards out to tie the Panthers at 10-10.

Edwards finished with 141 yards rushing on 15 carries to lead Northern Iowa (2-0). Pesek-Hickson carried 13 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers rushed for 233 total yards.

Rostberg completed 15 of 23 passing attempts for 104 yards and a touchdown to lead St. Thomas-Minnesota. Wagner had eight catches for 104 yards. Hope Adebayo had 113 yards on 20 carries.

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