JAMESTOWN – Nearly, it was an improbable comeback for Jamestown Jimmies Football.

19 fourth quarter points, including 13 in the last minute, brought the Jimmies within six, but Northern State held on Saturday 46-40 at Rollie Greeno Field at Charlotte & Gordon Hansen Stadium in these schools’ first game in football since 1985.

Brock Bagozzi threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Carter Campbell with 7:50 left for Northern State (7-4, 6-4 NSIC) and a two-point conversion gave the Wolves a 46-27 lead.

Jamestown (1-9, 1-9) moved within two scores with 1:12 left when Nick Martinez, who replaced injured quarterback Cole Hentges in the second quarter, ran in for his second touchdown of the game from a yard.  The Jimmies couldn’t make a two-point conversion and NSU led 46-33.

UJ gained the ball again when Cody Pellaton recovered Ethan Lieb’s onside kick.  With 17 seconds to go, Martinez found Ethan Hoffman for a 46-yard touchdown and Jamestown was within 46-40.

Northern State then almost gave the Jimmies an unbelievable break.  The Wolves’ Lorenzo Jones Jr. wouldn’t stop arguing with officials and was given two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.  Because of this, Jamestown was able to try an onside kick at the NSU 35.  But Campbell recovered it and the Wolves ran the last 15 seconds out.

For only the second time this season, the Jimmies scored first when Hentges threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Erastus Antsino with 4:54 left in the first quarter.

Northern State answered with the first of three touchdown runs from Wyatt Block from 15 yards and the first frame ended at 7-7.

With just over nine minutes to go in the first half, Block had another touchdown run, from four yards, and Northern State led for the first time in the game at 14-7.

Hentges and Antsino connected again from 15 yards for a Jamestown touchdown and there was another tie at 14-14 with 4:19 left in the half.

Northern State then scored twice in less than a minute and half, first with a Daniel Britt 10-yard pass to Gavin Giesler and a 70-yard scamper by Block.

Martinez’s first touchdown run with 55 seconds left brought the Jimmies within seven, but NSU’s Jeremy Caruso kicked a 43-yard field goal on the last play of the first half for a 31-21 Northern State lead.

Brock Bagozzi of Northern State had the only touchdown of the third quarter from one yard.

Early in the fourth, Martinez threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Nate Burke to bring Jamestown within 38-27.

Martinez was 10-of-19 for 163 yards and two touchdowns passing and 76 yards and two touchdowns rushing.  Hentges was 12-of-16 for 78 yards and two scores, both to Antsino, who had five catches for 30 yards.

Block rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns for Northern State.

Jamestown will open 2026 NSIC play on September 5 at Hansen Stadium against Sioux Falls, but there is the possibility of a non-conference game the week before that.

Northern St	7	24	7	8	46
UJ	7	14	0	19	40

FIRST QUARTER
UJ – Cole Hentges 5-yard TD pass to Erastus Antsino (Aanon Peterson XP) 4:54 – 7-0 UJ – 19 plays, 80 yards, 7:59 – Key plays: Hentges 11-yard pass to Zach Hammett to UJ 45 on 3rd & 7, Hentges 9-yard pass to Hammett to Northern St 39 on 3rd & 3, Hentges 17-yard pass to Gage Solano to Northern St 9 on 4th & 8
Northern St – Wyatt Block 15-yard TD run (Jeremy Caruso XP) 0:21 – 7-7 – 10 plays, 59 yards, 4:23 – Key play: Brock Bagozzi 13-yard pass to DJ Smith to UJ 47 on 3rd & 11

SECOND QUARTER
Northern St – Wyatt Block 4-yard TD run (Caruso XP) 9:18 – 14-7 Northern St – 9 plays, 83 yards, 3:49 – Key plays: Bagozzi 27-yard pass to Zack Kraft to UJ 22 on 3rd & 11, Block 18-yard run to UJ 4
UJ – Hentges 15-yard TD pass to Antsino (Peterson XP) 4:19 – 14-14 – 11 plays, 72 yards, 4:53 – Key plays: Hentges 11-yard pass to Solano to Northern St 43 on 3rd & 2, Northern St pass interference penalty to Northern St 28, Nick Martinez 10-yard run to NSU 17
Northern St – Daniel Britt 10-yard TD pass to Gavin Giesler (Caruso XP) 3:04 – 21-14 Northern St – 3 plays, 50 yards, 1:13 – Key plays: Northern St recovered onside kick at 50, Britt 24-yard run to UJ 26, Britt 16-yard run to UJ 10
Northern St – Wyatt Block 70-yard TD run (Caruso XP) 1:40 – 28-14 Northern St – 1 play, 70 yards, 0:12
UJ – Martinez 5-yard TD run (Peterson XP) 0:55 – 28-21 Northern St – 4 plays, 35 yards, 0:33 – Key plays: Mason Whitley 62-yard kickoff return to Northern St 35, Martinez 15-yard pass to Solano to Northern St 20, Hammett 13-yard run to Northern St 7
Northern St – Caruso 43-yard FG 0:00 – 31-21 Northern St – 7 plays, 45 yards, 0:50 – Key plays: Bagozzi 20-yard pass to Trey Birdsong to 50, Bagozzi 23-yard pass to Birdsong to UJ 27 on 3rd & 10

THIRD QUARTER
Northern St – Bagozzi 1-yard TD run (Caruso XP) 0:49 – 38-21 Northern St – 8 plays, 71 yards, 3:52 – Key play: Britt 32-yard run to UJ 3

FOURTH QUARTER
UJ – Martinez 32-yard TD pass to Nate Burke (run failed) 13:30 – 38-27 Northern St – 7 plays, 77 yards, 2:19 – Key play: Martinez 8-yard run to Northern St 21 on 4th & 4
Northern St – Bagozzi 2-yard TD pass to Carter Campbell (Bagozzi pass to Block) 7:50 – 46-27 Northern St – 12 plays, 43 yards, 5:32 – Key play: Bagozzi 6-yard run to UJ 29 on 4th & 2, Mason Stubbe 9-yard run to UJ 16 on 3rd & 6, Stubbe 11-yard run to UJ 5
UJ – Martinez 1-yard TD run (pass failed) 1:12 – 46-33 Northern St – 9 plays, 86 yards, 3:07 – Key plays: Martinez 22-yard run to UJ 43 on 3rd & 3, Martinez 47-yard pass to Pellaton to Northern St 10
UJ – Martinez 46-yard TD pass to Hoffman (Peterson XP) 0:15 – 46-40 Northern St – 5 plays, 53 yards, 0:57 – Key plays: Cody Pellaton recovered onside kick at UJ 47, Martinez 16-yard pass to Burke to Northern St 40

Individual Statistics

RUSHING
Northern St: Block 19-190-3 TD, Britt 11-105, Stubbe 3-22, Bagozzi 7-8-1 TD, TEAM 1-0
UJ: Hammett 18-85, Martinez 12-76-2 TD, Hentges 7-30, Hunter Ruzicka 1-0, Whitley 1-0

PASSING
Northern St: Bagozzi 14-24-151-1 TD, Britt 3-9-21-1 TD
UJ: Martinez 10-19-163-2 TD, Hentges 12-16-78, 2 TD, Hoffman 0-1, Hammett 0-1

RECEIVING
Northern St: Birdsong 3-40, Campbell 4-32-1 TD, Kraft 1-27, Block 2-19, Smith 3-15, Zach Jorgenson 1-13, Richard Prescott 1-12, Giesler 1-10-1 TD, Britt 1-4
UJ: Burke 2-48-1 TD, Pellaton 2-47, Hoffman 2-47-1 TD, Solano 3-43, Antsino 5-30-2 TD, Hammett 6-21, Ruzicka 1-3, Lukasz Andrews 1-2

	Northern St	UJ
First Downs	27	23
Rushing	41/325	19/191
Passing	172	241
Total Yds	497	432
Att/Comp/Int	17/33/0	22/37/0
Punts/avg	3/42.3	6/39.0
Fumbles/lost	0/0	0/0
Penalties/Yds	10/95	4/40
Time of possession	31:01	28:59

photo credit: Kadin Neppl Photography/University of Jamestown Athletics