FARGO, N.D.--Western Illinois jumped out to a 21-3 lead and held off a fourth quarter comeback to defeat No. 13-ranked North Dakota State 28-16 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference and annual homecoming game played Saturday, Oct. 2, before a sellout crowd of 18,701 in the Fargodome.

The road team has won each game in the brief four-game series between the schools. It was NDSU's first sellout since 2008 against Southern Illinois.

Western Illinois (4-1, 2-0 Valley Football) scored on drives of 79, 74 and 63 yards in the first half to jump out to a 21-3 halftime lead. Matt Barr completed a 6-yard TD pass to Lito Senatus, while Caulton Ray scored from 1-yard out and Bryce Flowers scampered in from 18 to highlight the scoring.

Barr completed 17 of 24 passes for 175 yards including five for 45 to Senatus, who finished with two touchdowns including a key 1-yard TD reception with 4:10 left in the third quarter after NDSU cut the lead to 21-13.

North Dakota State (3-2, 0-2 Valley Football) had a pair of red zone scoring opportunities go by the wayside in final five minutes after Brock Jensen and Warren Holloway hooked up on pass plays of 42 and 34 yard to put the Bison scoring position. Jensen completed 12 of 27 passes for a career-high 239 yards. Holloway made five receptions for a career-best 184 yards.

However,  the Western Illinois defense came up with a sack by linebacker Mike Stieren and a quarterback hurry by Brandon Kreczmer to highlight the effort down the stretch. Kreczmer had 10 tackles including two tackles for a loss to lead the Leathernecks, who finished with eight pass breakups and four QB hurries. Dwight Harris came up with a fumble recovery that led to WIU's first score of the game.

Ray rushed 18 times for 106 yards as Western Illinois finished with 223 yards rushing and 398 yards overall. Terriun Crump made five receptions for 75 yards, while Flowers ran 16 times for 95 yards. The Leathernecks held a 32:59 to 27:01 edge in time of possession.

North Dakota State finished with 196 yards rushing as Jensen broke a career-long 42 yard run and D.J. McNorton snapped off a 40-yarder. McNorton rushed 16 times for 104 yards, while Jensen added 69 yards on 13 carries. NDSU had 404 yards of total offense.

Bison kicker Ryan Jastram connected on a career-high field goals including a career-long 47 yarder as time ran out at halftime. John Prelvitz punted four times for an average of 51.5 yards per attempt including a career-long 58 yard effort.