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发帖数: 4978 | 1 野猫真惨，今年bowl game恐怕又要输。
Persa lifts NU to 21-17 upset of Iowa
But QB suffers freak injury after tossing winning TD and is lost for season
Cloudy skies gave way Saturday to clear and intensely dueling images.
Image No. 1: Joyous players, many of them seniors playing at Ryan Field for
the final time, celebrating Northwestern's 21-17 victory over Iowa to the
tune of "Sweet Home Chicago" by hugging family members, high-fiving
shirtless students and getting some love from the fairer sex.
"Apparently some guys had a couple of girls give them some hugs and a few
kisses," superback Drake Dunsmore said. "I was getting beat up in the mosh
pit. I was in the wrong section."
Image No. 2: Dan Persa, the team's best player and best-conditioned athlete,
being helped off the field after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
"Bittersweet," Dunsmore said in a giant understatement.
Persa was responsible for all three NU touchdowns — and NU's fifth victory
in its last six tries against the Hawkeyes. He ran for a 2-yard score, hit
Jeremy Ebert in stride on a 6-yard corner route and lofted the game-winning
20-yard spiral to Demetrius Fields with 1 minute 22 seconds to play.
Persa avoided pressure on that play, as usual, instead injuring his right
leg moments later.
"Freak deal," NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "He told me he was just running
to celebrate with Demetrius."
So on the day Northwestern (7-3, 3-3) finally beat a quality opponent —
Iowa (7-3, 4-2) was ranked 13th with a shot at the Rose Bowl — the Wildcats
' offense will be transformed.
Season-ending surgery for Persa means that NU's attack just got taller —
and less mobile. Evan Watkins, a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman from Glenbard
North, will replace Persa, who stands 6-0.
First assignment: Beat Illinois on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
"I know one guy who probably won't sleep tonight," Fitzgerald said after the
game, "and that's Evan."
Said Fields: "He is a talented physical specimen. He has a really strong arm
and he might be able to see a few things that Dan wouldn't be able to see.
I'm excited to play with him."
Persa completed 32 of 43 passes for 318 yards, all career highs. And his 73.
5 percent completion mark shattered the single-season Big Ten record of
Wisconsin's Darrell Bevell (67.8 in 1993).
"Dan puts everything he has into the team," Fields said. "If he was in the
training room cheering, we felt it."
Said Fitzgerald: "Danny was in great spirits afterward. I thought he was
going to chew Evan out a little bit just to get him ready to go."
The Wildcats needed a boost Saturday after Ricky Stanzi hit Derrell Johnson-
Koulianos for a 70-yard touchdown that put the Hawkeyes ahead 17-7 midway
through the third quarter.
Linebacker Nate Williams squirted water in the face of some teammates and
yelled at them to: "Focus up."
Iowa maintained that lead and had the ball with 11 minutes to play. Then
Stanzi threw a self-described "stupid" pass into double coverage that safety
Brian Peters snagged.
Persa led his team on an 85-yard touchdown drive that cut Iowa's lead to 17-
14. After NU's defense held, he hit five different receivers in a 91-yard
drive to complete the stunning comeback.
In an instant, Northwestern re-established itself as "Team November" (a
Fitzgerald saying) and the "Cardiac Cats."
Why did it take until week 10 for Northwestern to put together this kind of
performance?
Fields shook his head, saying: "I wish I could explain it." |
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