DE PERE - St. Norbert College had the football for over 20 minutes in the second half to pull away and defeat Lakeland University 35-12 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Schneider Stadium.

The Green Knights (2-1, 2-0 NACC) held a 21-12 halftime lead and then took the second-half kickoff and scored to open up a 16-point lead. Richie Gilles hit Parker Lawrence on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 11:21 left in the third quarter to go ahead 28-12 after the extra point.

The two teams then traded punts and Lakeland reached the St. Norbert 21-yard line before being stopped on downs with 2:07 left in the third quarter. The Green Knights then needed 11 plays to march 79 yards to score on a Gilles four-yard touchdown run with 10:13 remaining. St. Norbert then stopped Lakeland on downs again with 7:32 left, and the Green Knights melted 6:22 off the clock to steal the game. St. Norbert ran 16 fourth-quarter plays, all runs.

Lakeland scored on its second possession of the game when it went 82 yards on 15 plays to score on a Gabriel Maynes five-yard run with 3:05 left in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point. St. Norbert responded quickly, going 71 yards on six plays to score on a John Trinh two-yard run on the final play of the first quarter to take a 7-6 lead.

St. Norbert scored the next two touchdowns, getting a three-yard touchdown run from Delton Zuleger with 10:13 left in the second quarter. Lakeland then reached the St. Norbert 19-yard line but Joe Jung intercepted a Robert Michael pass at the 2 and returned it 31 yards. St. Norbert then marched 67 yards and scored on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Gilles to Lawrence with 5:40 left for a 21-6 lead. Lakeland would score with 14 seconds left in the half on a five-yard touchdown pass from Michael to Caleb Besaw.

Lakeland held a slim edge in total offense at 394-376. Gilles completed 11 of 17 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron Krueger caught five passes for 116 yards, while Lawrence had three receptions for 32 yards and two touchdowns. Zuleger rushed 19 times for 99 yards and one touchdown, while Trinh had 16 carries for 54 yards.

Michael completed 20 of 30 passes for 240 yards and also rushed 23 times for 82 yards to lead the Muskies. Besaw caught six passes for 77 yards.

Parker Violette led St. Norbert with 12 tackles, while Tyler McCabe added 11 to pace the St. Norbert defense.