SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Northwestern State Demons weren't at their best Saturday afternoon, until they had to be.
 
Then they came through with flying colors, recovering two fumbles in the red zone before a previously-stymied offensive unit mounted an 80-yard drive capped by Justin Aldredge's clinching 33-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter of a gritty 23-10 non-conference football victory at Texas State.
 
NSU (5-3 overall) came off an open date and handed former Southland Conference rival Texas State (5-4) its first homefield loss under coach Dennis Franchione, the former TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M coach in his first year in San Marcos.
 
“There are days when it's not pretty, when you have to gut it out when you're not playing your best,” said third-year Demons' coach Bradley Dale Peveto. “We made enough plays on offense, on defense and in special teams to win today against a really good, extremely well-coached opponent.
 
“Our guys came through when we had to,” he said. “That's what we did best today -- make winning plays.”
 
Northwestern got fumble recoveries at the 12 by Wade Williams, after Lamont Simmons knocked the ball loose, and at the 4 by Ricky Isaac after a big hit by All-America linebacker Derek Rose to preserve a precarious 17-10 lead coming down the stretch.
 

“As long as they have to put it down and snap it the next play, when it's in the red zone, we still have a chance to make something happen,” said Demons' defensive coordinator Brad Laird, whose unit has held opponents scoreless 11 times in 18 trips inside the red zone in the last five games, four times Saturday. “Again today, more than in any other game this season, our toughness shined through and good fortune smiled on us too.”
 

An NSU offense held to six first downs into the middle of the fourth quarter rang up six more in the last nine minutes. The 80-yard drive featured three third-down conversions, the last when Aldredge took his second-ever handoff as a tailback for NSU on a third-and-1, found a hole over left guard and nothing but open field up the middle afterward to cap a 10-play march and boost the visitors up by two touchdowns, 23-10 with 4:45 to go.
 

“What a competitor, what a coachable young man,” said Demons' offensive coordinator Todd Cooley. “We ran the same play with him in the first half and he missed a cutback. We talked to him about it at halftime and given the same situation, where they had a great defensive call and had numbers on us on the right side, Justin read it perfectly, cut it to the backside and found the daylight. We gave him a crease and it was all he needed.
 

“That was the perfect ending to that drive. We rose to the situation. We did our best work up front, our playmakers made plays with the ball, and we put together one of the best 2-3 drives I've ever seen under pressure,” said Cooley. “Before that, Texas State made it tough on us. But with that drive and the one to run out the clock (grinding out two more first downs to chew up the final 3:31), our guys stepped up big time.”
 

The Demons never trailed but after dominating the first quarter for a 14-0 lead, they spent the rest of the day holding the Bobcats at bay. Texas State's frustrations included three missed field goals (46, 42 and 36 yards) by true freshman Will Johnson, and losing the ball on downs at the NSU 13 with 3:31 to go.

“They got one touchdown, and that was an 82-yard run,” said Peveto. “They're averaging 28 points and nearly 400 yards a game. I can't say enough about the job Coach Laird and his defense did today.”

The Bobcats outgained NSU 330-290 as their unconventional triple-option attack carved out 247 yards rushing on a defense allowing only 125 per game.

Texas State all but overcame a 14-point first quarter by the Demons, with Johnson following two misses by connecting on a 47-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in the half to draw Texas State within 14-10.

The Demons zoomed ahead 7-0 less than two minutes into the game on a 47-yard run by receiver Phillip Harvey out of a wildcat formation. Late in the period, a wide-open Louis Hollier ran a crossing pattern underneath the Texas State secondary on a 36-yard touchdown strike from Brad Henderson.

Otherwise, the NSU offense was stalemated, producing a net of only 49 more yards on 28 additional plays by halftime. Texas State was not much better, with 82 of its 153 yards coming on a touchdown run by Terrence Franks 9:43 before halftime on an option pitch and run down the Bobcats' sideline.

Early in the third quarter, the Demons cashed in a costly mistake for a 17-10 advantage. John Shaughnessy booted a 38-yard field goal, his ninth straight make, after a botched Bobcats' handoff recovered by the Demons Anthony Gilbert at the Texas State 27.

“The first fumble recovery helped us put points up. The last two kept points off the board,” said Peveto. “We focused on winning turnover margin all offseason, especially on creating turnovers, and today showed how important it is to winning games.“

NSU comes home next Saturday afternoon at 3 to begin its closing three-game Southland stretch against Central Arkansas in a matchup of teams one game back of league-leading Sam Houston State, NSU's Nov. 12 opponent on the road.