Cedar City » There's no place like home.

Just ask Southern Utah.

Quarterback Cade Cooper threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns Saturday, leading the Thunderbirds to a 35-10 Great West Conference victory over North Dakota.

Southern Utah improved to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Coach Ed Lamb and the Thunderbirds bumped their record to 3-0 at Eccles Coliseum, where they have won by an average margin of 33-13.

Cooper hit Tysson Poots for two scores. He added touchdown passes to Austin Minefee and Fesi Sitake as Southern Utah built a 28-3 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Erron Vonner returned an interception 12 yards for another touchdown. It was the first time since 2004 that a Thunderbird defender picked off a pass and scored.

North Dakota (3-4, 1-1) scored its only touchdown when Brent Goska scored on an eight-yard run with 1:46 to play.

"With regard to the defense, I was very pleased, especially with the secondary," Lamb said. "In the time I've been at SUU, I don't think I've seen as many three-and-outs as I saw today."

In all, SUU's defense had five three-and-outs. It also forced four turnovers.

 

"We were able to win the take-away battle and that was significant," Lamb said. "Our players were aggressive going to the ball."

Cooper, the double-transfer from BYU and Oregon, has now thrown 20 touchdown passes this

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season.

"I'm very pleased with the offense," Lamb said. "They threw everything they had at us today [but] Cade showed tremendous poise."