Gaven Ziebarth scores with 25 seconds left to lift UND to 22-21 win over Illinois State

Nov. 18—GRAND FORKS — In the second quarter of UND's regular-season finale, Fighting Hawks running back Gaven Ziebarth, who has been battling an injury for the past month, limped off the field and was visibly frustrated to be hurting again.

In the third quarter, Ziebarth was slow to get up after a running play. He waved at the sidelines to not substitute him out and remain in the game.

With 25 seconds left, Ziebarth's toughness was rewarded.

Ziebarth punched in a 1-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds to go to lift No. 13 UND to a 22-21 win over Illinois State on Saturday at the Alerus Center, likely clinching the Hawks' inclusion in the FCS playoff bracket.

The playoff field of 24 teams will be announced at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

"Seeing that toughness, I told him today 'You ran like a grown man today, and I'm real proud of you,'" UND linebacker Malachi McNeal said. "He continues to do that week in and week out. He fights it out for us. He's a real big part of this team. I'm speechless with what he did today, and I'm grateful for it."

UND's back was against the wall in the fourth quarter. The Redbirds took a 21-16 lead on a Mason Blakemore 13-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left.

The Hawks countered with the game-winning drive, going 76 yards in 11 plays in a little over 4 minutes.

The drive was jump-started by a Bo Belquist tip-toe catch along the sideline for 13 yards — a play that was reviewed and upheld as a catch.

After UND picked up a fourth-and-1 at the 50 with a Ziebarth 1-yard run with 2:01 left, quarterback Tommy Schuster took control.

Schuster hit Belquist for 17 yards with a minute to go to bring UND down to the 27. Schuster then found Jack Wright for 15 yards down to the 12 with 45 seconds to play.

Schuster then scrambled 11 yards down to the 1 to set up Ziebarth.

Illinois State's final counter reached as far as the 40 before Redbirds backup quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse, playing in place of injured starter Zack Annexstad, threw three incompletions. On the final play, Rittenhouse connected over the middle to Rylan Crawford, whose desperation lateral was collected by UND cornerback C.J. Siegel to end the game.

"There were times during the game it was bothering me, but I had to forget about it and move on," Ziebarth said. "This is for the seniors and the guys who won't be able to play next year. This isn't about me. It's for those guys. The whole game that's what I was thinking about."

UND's win came despite being outgained 466 to 338 in total offense. The Hawks were also 1-for-9 on third downs.

But UND was able to strike at opportune times.

After the defense forced a turnover on downs on ISU's first possession of the second half, UND took a 16-9 lead on its first drive of the third quarter. On fourth-and-1, UND ran a bootleg and Illinois State's defensive line didn't bite completely on the run fake.

Under pressure, Schuster danced a Redbird defender and wildly threw to the end zone for tight end Max Gunderson, who caught the 9-yard touchdown pass.

Another key play came after Illinois State's Crawford scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Rittenhouse to cut UND's lead to 16-15 early in the fourth quarter.

On the extra-point attempt, UND's C.J. Siegel and Josh Navratil broke through the line of scrimmage and Navratil blocked the attempt to keep UND's lead. Redbirds kicker Ian Wagner also missed an extra point and a field goal in the game.

Ziebarth finished with 74 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. Schuster ended 14-for-22 for 169 yards. Belquist caught eight balls for 72 yards.

Blakemore led the Redbirds with 101 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Rittenhouse threw for a career-high 241 yards.

"Our guys showed great belief and a lot of courage down the stretch," "I thought Tommy was really good today ... made so many big plays for us. Down the stretch, to run that drive and get us in the end zone by throwing it and scrambling and tucking it and getting yards. He performed at a high level. We tell our guys all the time, keep playing and you never know what play is going to make the game. The point we won by was a blocked PAT and our guys did a good job on it. Really proud of our guys. We wanted to close out the regular season with a win and give ourselves an opportunity to move on."