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GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota football team held on for a 31-24 victory over UC Davis in its Big Sky Conference opener Saturday at the Alerus Center. 

True freshman John Santiago rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns for UND (3-1), while senior linebacker Will Ratelle racked up a career-high 15 tackles to lead the defensive effort.

It was the second 100-yard rushing game of Santiago's brief career and his output topped his season-opening effort at Wyoming by four yards. He also added 94 yards on three kickoff returns to give him 246 total yards.

Twelve of Ratelle's total tackles were of the solo variety and he added four tackles for loss and a sack as UND's defense yielded only 287 yards of total offense to the Aggies.

UC Davis (0-4) remained winless despite a trio of passing touchdowns by senior quarterback Ben Scott, who completed 70 percent of his passes (14-for-20) for 174 yards.

"This was a nice way to start Big Sky Conference play," UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. "I thought we got contributions from a lot of different players and came up with some big plays in all facets of the game when we needed them."

After Santiago returned the opening kickoff 46 yards, the UND offense marched down the remaining 54 yards on seven carries to strike first. Santiago capped that opening drive with a 2-yard scoring run, which was his third of the season.

Both teams turned short fields into touchdowns after each defensive unit came up with a first-quarter interception. UND came up with the first turnover of the game when Deion Harris set his offense up at the UC Davis 9-yard line compliments of a 31-yard interception return. Harris, who led the FCS with seven pass break-ups entering the game, hauled in first interception of the season on the Aggies' opening possession.

Senior tight end Zach Adler put his team ahead 14-0 after making a leaping grab in the back of the end zone on 3^rd-and-goal from the four.

That would be the first of two passing scores for sophomore Keaton Studsrud in the opening 30 minutes, but after the defense forced a punt, the sophomore signal caller threw his first interception of the season. The Aggies' Darryl Graham returned it nine yards to the UND 29-yard line to set up his team's first points of the game.

Scott and company would take only three plays to find the end zone as wide receiver Chris Martin caught a screen pass and raced in the rest of the way from 27 yards out to cut the visitors' deficit in half.

The Aggies made it a 14-10 contest after a 19-yard field goal that was set up on a flea flicker that went for 36 yards down to the UND 2-yard line. The home team's defense was stout though, limiting the Aggies to just three points as Ratelle came up with a big stop on 3^rd-and-goal from the one.

With momentum on the Aggies' side after scoring 10 straight points, Martin was on his way to setting up his team in prime field position with a 49-yard punt return, but Miguel Cerriteno never gave up on the play and stripped the ball loose to create the second turnover of the game.

Senior captain Brandon Anderson pounced on the loose ball to give UND possession back on its own 26-yard line and the home team would take advantage of that opportunity. UND would chew up all but 17 seconds of the remaining clock in the opening half on an 11-play drive that took nearly four minutes. Studsrud capped the team's third touchdown drive of the half with a 3-yard strike to Luke Stanley to put his team ahead 21-10 at the break.

UND kept momentum on its side following a 15-yard punt by the Aggies that gave the Green and White possession at the UCD 30-yard line. Santiago would cap that quick, four-play drive with a six-yard scoring run that gave UND its largest lead of the game at 28-10.

The Aggies would have an answer for that score as Scott engineered a mammoth drive, 14-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by Martin's second touchdown reception of the game from 20 yards out.

UND would build its lead back to 14 points again at 31-17 thanks to a season-long 46-yard field goal by Reid Taubenheim late in the third quarter.

Ratelle would sack Scott on the opening play of the fourth quarter and the Aggies' signal caller would have to leave the game after that play. Redshirt freshman C.J. Spencer would replace him, but UC Davis would go three-and-out.

UND was unable to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball through most of the fourth quarter, allowing UC Davis to climb back into the game with a late touchdown. Scott, who re-entered the game on the Aggies' last scoring drive, found Alex Cannon from two yards out to make it a one-touchdown contest.

The Aggies opted to kick the ball deep despite not having any timeouts left and that decision would prove costly. The UND offense picked up four first downs and ran off the remaining 6:07 that was left on the clock.  True freshman Iwarri Smith logged the last of that quartet on a six-yard gain as he finished with eight carries for 33 yards in his most produtive action of the season.

Studsrud picked up 59 yards on the ground to give UND a team total of 240 as that attack averaged six yards per carry in the contest. Through the air, the sophomore finished 8-for-19 for 58 yards and those two first-half passing scores.

UND returns to action for its first Big Sky road game next Saturday at Portland State.

GAME NOTES: Game captains were seniors Zach Adler, Brandon Anderson, Dayo Idowu and Will Ratelle ... UND improved to 3-4 all-time against UC Davis, including a 2-1 mark at the Alerus Center ... Today marks the second-time in the first four seasons of Big Sky Conference play that UND has won its conference-opener (also defeated Sacramento State in 2012) ... This also marks the first 3-1 start for UND since the 2012 season ... Ratelle finished with a career-high 15 tackles, including 12 solo stops, a sack and four tackles for loss ... Sophomore Deion Harris registered the first defensive turnover of the season for UND with a first-quarter interception (second of his career) ... UND has scored a touchdown following all three of its turnovers gained this season (two against UC Davis) ... True freshman Elijah Grady made his UND debut in a reserve role at right tackle ... Senior tight end Zach Adler and redshirt freshman wide receiver Luke Stanley both caught their second touchdown passes of the season ... Sophomore Mitch Meindel averaged 50.5 yards per punt on four attempts and now has 10 punts of 50-plus yards on the season.

-- UND --