The University of North Dakota football team continued its hot streak this past Saturday winning its eighth straight game defeating Northern Colorado 23-13.

“It’s never easy to win on the road, but our guys found a way once again to get the job done,” head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We moved one step closer to our goal of winning a Big Sky Championship and I’m really proud of those young men and the way they continue to compete.”

Northern Colorado started the game with a 75 yard drive resulting in a touchdown. They did not find the scoreboard again until late in the fourth quarter and the game had already been decided.

Between the two touchdowns made by NCU, the Fighting Hawks were paced offensively by sophomore running back John Santiago and junior kicker Reid Taubenheim. Santiago rushed for a season high total of 204 yards while Taubenheim connected three times including one from 40 yards out.

Meanwhile for the Hawks, sophomore Brady Oliveira got them on the board for the first time of the game running in a 20 yard touchdown. With the touchdown, Oliveira has now scored at least a touchdown in all seven of UND’s conference games.

Also on offense was a milestone for senior tight end Luke Matthewson. The Libertyville, Ill. native hauled in his first career touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

Not only was the offensive productive but the UND defense was stingy against the Bears allowing only six rushing yards.

There were also key turnovers forced by the Hawks with a clutch interception by Torrey Hunt at the goal line to prevent the Bears taking the lead going into the second half.

The Bears put up a good fight towards the end making the game more interesting with a touchdown with a hair over two minutes remaining to make it only a two score game. However, the attempted onside kick was a failure and resulting in UND recovering, putting the game on ice by running down the clock.

The game was themed by missed opportunities for the Northern Colorado Bears. As they were forced to punt a total of eight times and had two turnovers including the red zone interception mentioned earlier.

With the win, the Hawks moved to an 8-2 record including 7-0 within Big Sky play.

After a heartbreaking loss to Bowling Green back in late September, all the cogs in the big green machine have clicked and rolled to win eight games in a row. Within this winning streak, the Hawks have outscored their opponents 258-168.

As of Sunday, the FCS rankings were officially released with UND sitting outside the top ten at 11th.

As the regular season comes to a close, UND looks to close on yet another W facing the Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Arizona.

Despite the 5-4 record, the Lumber Jacks have had their own winning streak, going 4-0 after a dismal 1-4 start.

Northern Arizona looks to finish the season strong with a 5-2 conference record while the Hawks look to extend the win streak to nine this Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Alerus Center.

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