The largest crowd to ever watch a University of Minnesota Duluth home football game convened at James S. Malosky Stadium Saturday night  -- and they certainly got their money's worth.

The Bulldogs used some late-game heroics to rally for a 34-31 victory over Winona State University in their 2016 home debut and did so in front of 6,357 spectators. Senor quarterback Drew Bauer  hooked up with senior running back Darren Walker on a 10-yard strike for the go-ahead touchdown with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter as UMD evened its record at 1-1 and pushed its home winning streak to 17 games.

Bauer wound up throwing for 282 yards (completing 20 of 31 passes with one pick) and three touchdowns and rushed 18 times for 89 yards and another score. He figured in on two touchdowns during a wild first quarter in which the two long-time rivals combined for 374 yards and 39 points. The Bulldogs, who led 20-19 at the end of the first quarter, took a 27-19 lead into halftime thanks to junior Nate Ricci's 62-yard punt return for a touchdown with 2:11 to go before the break. Winona State (1-1 overall) scored 12 unanswered points in the third quarter to go up 31-27 and had a chance to perhaps put the game away on its opening drive of the fourth quarter. Following a UMD punt,  junior offensive guard Nolan Folkert was assessed two unsportsmanlike penalties that gave Winona State the ball at the Bulldog 13-yard line. Two plays later, UMD junior free safety Kegan Wirtz hijacked an overthrown pass from Winona State quarterback Jack Nelson in the UMD endzone. It was the only pick Nelson (who rolled up 304 passing yards) would throw on Military Appreciation Night and Wirtz's first interception as a Bulldog.

"They scored on their first three drives, but after that we settled down," said Wirtz, who was credited with seven total tackles. "We started making plays, we kept pushing and eventually it worked out for the best."

Junior wide out D.J. Hebert paced both teams with six receptions for 110 yards while Walker finished as the Bulldogs' leading rusher for the second straight week, rolling up 92 yards on 15 carries. UMD held a 488-392 edge in total yards and limited Winona State to just 19 overall yards in the final quarter of play.

"It was one of those football games that at some point we were going to need to rely on our defense and offense to make a big play when we faced a lot of adversity," said UMD head coach Curt Wiese.

The Bulldogs will take their show on the road next Saturday for a night clash with Concordia University-St.Paul.