UND Senior Baylee Carr (left) celebrates with a fellow teammate following Saturday’s win at the Alerus Center over Stony Brook. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

“The defense came to play, that’s all I can say.”

UND linebacker Taj Rich knew what needed to happen.

On Saturday night, UND showed the way this team is going to win is through its defense.

UND won 13-3 against Stony Brook in a tightly contested game, in which the Green and White had their backs to the wall a majority of the night.

The defense against the Seawolves came through in the clutch in many different situations, especially in the second half.

Whether it was sacking the quarterback on third downs or stuffing the run on several fourth and shorts, everyone on UND’s defense came to play.

“The D-Line was just swarming on the offensive linemen on Stony Brook,” Rich said. “The linebackers just kept coming.”

Swarming was an understatement.

Rich had a historic night, accounting for 19 tackles — a UND Division-I record.

All night long, the men up front terrorized Stony Brook’s offensive line, making it clear who was in charge of the line of scrimmage, which is evident from the fact that the Seawolves averaged just 1.1 yards a carry.

Stony Brook’s running backs were not the only players under duress.

The Green and White’s defense forced pressure on the quarterback combo of John Kinder and Conor Bednarski throughout the game, sacking them seven times.

To put that into perspective, UND had sacked opposing quarterbacks three total times this year coming into tonight’s game.

But it wasn’t just the linebackers and linemen making noise all game, as the defensive backs also left their mark.

Senior Alex Tillman has learned over his football career how crucial it is to forget mistakes quickly, a trait he demonstrated against the Seawolves.

About midway through the second quarter, Tillman went to field a routine punt, but muffed it in the process, giving Stony Brook prime field position to get a quick score. UND’s defense held it from getting a touchdown, but surrendered a field goal in the process.

“Sometimes, you make mistakes out there, and when you make mistakes, you’ve got to forget about them,” UND captain and defensive back Alex Tillman said. “My mom used to tell me, ‘don’t cry over spoiled milk,’ and that’s how I go about the game. It’s over. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve got to move on to the next play and hopefully make up for what I did.”

Tillman would make up for his mistake in a huge way.

In what would be the game deciding play in the third quarter, Stony Brook quarterback John Kinder went to throw a strike down the middle of the field, but the pass never got there.

Tillman intercepted the ball and ran it 92 yards for the touchdown to put the Green and White up 13-3, securing the lead for good.

While the defense had arguably the best night of the season, things did not go as well on the other side of the ball.

The Green and White’s offense continued to struggle, as the offense only accounted for 145 yards.

There was one bright spot for the offense, though.

In the second quarter, UND sophomore quarterback Joe Mollberg heaved a beautiful pass over the middle to freshman Dev Ferguson, who ran the rest of the way for a 68 yard touchdown strike, putting UND up 6-3.

UND starts Big Sky Conference play next weekend, when it will travel to Bozeman, Mont., to take on Montana State.

UND will need to bring that defensive energy to continue its winning ways.

“I have a lot of respect for their program, but we’ll challenge our guys to get on that plane and get out there and compete as hard as we can,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “That’s what we’re looking to do.”

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].