Northern Iowa holds on to defeat Wofford
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Tirrell Rennie threw a pair of touchdown 21 victory over Wofford in the second round of the FCS playoffs Saturday.
Rennie completed 7-of-12 passes for 67 yards. He hit Jarred Herring four times for 54 yards and two scores for the Panthers (10-2), who will meet Montana in the quarterfinals.
Eric Breitenstein ran for 131 yards and three touchdowns for the Terriers (8-4), while Mitch Allen added 156 rushing yards on 28 carries.
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Allen also completed 3-of-8 passes for 21 yards, but was sacked on 4th-and-9 with under a minute remaining, cutting short the Terriers' comeback bid.
UNI opened the scoring on its opening drive with Rennie's 23-yard touchdown pass to Herring, but the Terriers answered with a methodical 16-play, 81-yard march.
Breitenstein carried the ball seven times during the drive and crossed the goal line from three yards out to tie the score.
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In the second quarter, Breitenstein reeled off a 46-yard touchdown run to give Wofford a 14-7 lead at the half.
Northern Iowa, though, grabbed control after the break with 21 straight points.
Late in the third, the Panthers converted a Wofford fumble into Herring's game-tying, seven-yard touchdown reception.
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The Terriers then moved to the UNI 31, but the drive stalled on 4th-and-4. On the other end, a roughing the kicker penalty on a Tyler Sieversten field goal attempt extended the Panthers' drive. Two plays later, David Johnson's one- yard touchdown plunge put UNI on top, 21-14.
The woes continued for Wofford, as Stephon Shelton fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and Phil Wright recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a 28-14 Panthers lead.
Later in the fourth quarter, the Terriers' made it 28-21 with an 88-yard march, capped by Breitenstein's three-yard scoring run.
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Sieversten then had a chance to put the game away, but missed a 47-yard field goal, giving Wofford the ball at its own 29 with 53 second left.
Allen rushed for a short gain, was incomplete on a pair of passes and was brought down in the backfield by August Hadenfeldt, sealing the final result.