WINONA, Minn. – Trey Heid found Charlie Hayes open in the middle of the end zone as time expired to lift Augustana University football to a 35-34 victory over Winona State University (5-5, 3-3 NSIC South) on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Vikings, ranked seventh in Super Region Three, improved to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the NSIC South Division. Augustana is now tied for second in the overall NSIC standings and first in the South Division.

 

Winona State took a 34-28 lead with 1:39 remaining in the game on a 34-yard field goal by Carter McCauley. Augustana's offense took over at its own 29 yard line with 1:34 to play and went 71 yards on nine plays for the game-winning drive.
 
On the first play of the drive, Heid was sacked for a loss of seven yards forcing the Vikings to take their second timeout of the half. He then completed passes of 12 yards (CJ Ham) and 30 yards (Charlie Hayes) to move into Winona State territory.
 
Heid then found Hayes in the middle of the field for a first down to the WSU nine-yard line where the Vikings would try to run another play before burning a timeout. Heid scrambled to his right and was pushed out of bounds at the six-yard line with one second remaining on the clock. Following timeouts by both teams, Heid fought-off a would-be sack and tossed the game-tying touchdown pass to Hayes.
 
Lucas Wainman drilled the extra-point and the Vikings celebrated a 35-34 win over the Warriors on their home field.
 
Winona State out-gained Augustana offensively with 527 yards of total offense, including 416 yards through the air. Augustana finished the game with 444 yards of offense, including 146 yards on the ground and 298 through the air.
 
CJ Ham matched his career-high with three rushing touchdowns while carrying the ball a career-high 30 times for 96 yards. Heid was 24 of 35 passing for 298 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing two interceptions.
 
Hayes ended the game with seven catches for 88 yards and a score. Matt Heller and Jake Bartscher each added 57 receiving yards for the Vikings.
 
The Viking defense forced four turnovers on the day, including four interceptions. Augustana has recorded four interceptions in back-to-back games against Winona State as the Vikings had four picks against the Warriors in last year's meeting on Nov. 1.
 
Kirby Hora led the team with 10 tackles while Chad Curry added eight and Steven Miller six. Anthony Tatum recorded his first career interception and finished the game with two. Trevor Naasz and Justin Brown also picked-off a pass on the afternoon.
 
Winona State got the ball to start the game but the Vikings took it right away when Brown stepped in front of a Jack Nelson pass on the first play of the game to give Augustana the ball inside Winona State territory.
 
Augustana would find the end zone just six plays later when Ham plunged through the line from five yards out to put the Vikings on the board early with a 7-0 lead.
 
The defense kept coming up with big plays in the first quarter as the Vikings intercepted passes on Winona State's next two possessions. Anthony Tatum picked up his first career interception on the Warriors second drive before Naasz gathered in a tipped pass giving the offense the ball at the Winona State 49-yard line.
 
Augustana moved the ball to the Winona State 34-yard line but Kyle Coon intercepted a Heid pass at the 22-yard line. The Warriors were called for holding on the first play of the next drive but two plays later Alan May found Josh Mikes for an 80-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 7-7 with 1:22 left in the first quarter.
 
The Vikings were forced three-and-out on their next possession and Winona State didn't waste any time taking its first lead of the game when Nelson found Mikes for a 68-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive putting the Warriors up 14-7.
 
The Greenways got the Vikings quickly out of the shadows of their own end zone with Jason Greenway returning the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to the 36-yard line. Four plays later, Justin Greenway took a swing pass 51 yards to the house to tie the game at 14-14 with 11:18 remaining in the first half.
 
Winona State put together a long drive on the very next possession and scored on the 10th play of the 79-yard drive on a 10-yard touchdown run by Eric Birth putting the Warriors up 21-14 but the Vikings responded with a long drive of their own to knot things up at 21.
 
Ham ended a 14-play, 76-yard drive with his second rushing touchdown of the game that tied the game at 21-21 with 53 seconds remaining in the half.
 
Winona State looked to quickly move down the field at the end of the half throwing an incompletion on a deep pass attempt to Cameron Johnson and on the next play, Tatum intercepted his second pass of the game giving Augustana the ball at the WSU 29-yard line with 33 seconds to play. Justin Greenway picked up 19 yards on the first play of the drive but the Vikings were called for holding and on the next play, threw its second interception of the day giving Winona State the ball with 11 seconds left in the half.
 
The game would go to halftime with the score tied at 21.
 
The Warriors held Augustana scoreless in the third quarter and gained a 31-21 lead after a 22-yard touchdown catch by Alan May with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Both teams were forced to punt on their next possessions and the Vikings went into the fourth quarter with a promising drive. On the second to last play of the third quarter, Bartscher got the Vikings into WSU territory with a big 35-yard gain on a catch over the middle.
 
Augustana got down to the five yard line where they went for it on fourth down and two, but the Warriors came up with the stop to keep the Vikings off the board and the game at a two-score lead. The Viking defense answered big again, forcing the Warriors to punt for the only time in the game on their next possession and the offense answered with a 10-play 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a one-yard run by Ham that made the score 31-28 with 7:15 left in the game.
 
The defense came up big again on WSU's next drive holding the Warriors to a field goal that made the score 34-28 with 1:39 left in the game after a five-plus minute drive.
 
Following a 25-yard return by Jason Greenway, the Viking offense set up and made their way down the field for the game-winning drive.
 
Augustana will play its final regular season and home game Saturday, Nov. 14 hosting Concordia-St. Paul for senior day at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.