MANKATO, Minn. -- Ryan Chappell was bruised. He was a little battered, too. But once again, Chappell broke another big play - one that buried Minnesota State Mankato's chance for a huge upset.
Chappell's 81-yard touchdown pass from Danny Freund with 3 minutes, 27 seconds to play gave No. 2 UND a dramatic come-from-behind 38-34 win against Mankato on Saturday before 6,102 homecoming fans at Blakeslee Stadium, the largest Maverick crowd in 15 years.
Chappell's touchdown capped a UND fourth-quarter rally. The Sioux trailed by 10 points with 6:46 to play and their offense was operating into the face of a south wind that was gusting up to 35 mph.
"They had us on the ropes," UND coach Dale Lennon said.
But Chappell pulled another escape act when the Sioux needed their biggest play.
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Brandon Brady's 2-yard touchdown run cut Mankato's lead to 34-31 with 5:13 to play. UND then came up with its first big stop when the defense forced the Mavericks to punt with under four minutes to play.
Taking over at the Sioux 19, Freund flipped a short pass to Chappell. It was a simple underneath route designed to pick up 5 yards. But Chappell found an open seam after catching the pass. Two defenders collided, and that was the break Chappell needed.
UND's fastest player then ran untouched into the end zone - a play that took the air out of the crowd that was hoping for the biggest upset of the season in Division II football.
Chappell, however, spent a portion of the game on the sidelines after hurting his back in the first half. But he had enough at the end to help UND improve to 4-0 in the North Central Conference and 6-0 overall.
"My back got squished early," Chappell said. "My back was tight. They kept asking me if I was good to go. I wasn't quite 100 percent."
But there was no way Chappell wasn't going to be on the field at the end.
For Chappell, the long-distance score came after he scored on runs of 90 and 95 yards the previous two weeks.
His latest touchdown, however, was UND's biggest play of the season.
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"Everyone was supposed to go deep on the play," Chappell said. "It was just an underneath route. It was a pretty simple play. I caught the ball, found an open seam and ran fast."
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