CEDAR FALLS -- Jamie Goodwin's last-second score on Nov. 12, 2005 left a lasting image.

So much so, in fact, that Northern Iowa's football coaches pay homage to the play each weekday.

"The final catch of that game we still have posted on the wall in our offices -- it's a big picture," Panther head coach Mark Farley noted this week, recalling a last-gasp scoring grab that clinched UNI's dramatic, 25-24 win over Southern Illinois.

"The poise (the Panthers) kept and the play they made is what you remember."

Other elements of that clash were also quite memorable " like the fact that contest was part of a six-week stretch in which UNI rang up four comeback wins, en route to the Division I-AA national title game.

That SIU win was the beginning of a white-knuckle ride that must have left every Cedar Valley cardiologist on standby each Saturday.

The Coach

Farley, a decorated former linebacker, said he gnashes his teeth when his team trails in ballgames. When SIU bolted out to a 24-10 lead with less than 15 minutes to play, the coach was mad enough to grind a few fillings loose.

But he eventually kept his cool. So did his team.

A still-developing sophomore quarterback, Eric Sanders, began to find his way. The Oelwein native, who would end his career as one of the most accurate passers in college annals, connected on 22 of 33 passes on the day, to go along with three TD passes.

"He led us," recalled running back David Horne, now a member of the United Indoor Football league's Omaha Beef. "That's where (Sanders) found his swagger."

Three years later, it's easy to forget the pressure that rested on the shoulders of Farley, Sanders and the rest of the Panthers that day. Just three weeks earlier, UNI had endured a 38-3 evisceration at the hands of Illinois State. It was the Panthers' worst I-AA loss in 22 years. Saddled with three losses at that point, the Panthers knew they must run the table the rest of the way to earn a playoff spot.

"It was a terrible feeling," Farley said, recalling the 35-point drubbing in Normal, Ill., which left UNI just 4-3 overall.

But, weeks later, as the Southern Illinois game wore on, momentum started to swing back in Farley's favor.

"Our backs were against the wall," he noted. "Had we lost another game, we were out of the playoffs. (But) that group, at that time, really came together and had a refuse-to-lose attitude.

"They always persevered."

THE CROWD

That season, the UNI-Dome crowds never failed to stand and deliver, either. Against Southern Illinois, a partisan crowd 15,536 strong delivered ear-splitting racket rarely heard before or since in Cedar Falls.

"In the Dome, the crowd noise was always gonna be a factor," noted Horne. "But as we made (the game) closer, they got more into it."

As a result, as UNI inched closer " to within 24-19 after a Patrick Hunter score with nearly seven minutes left " the Salukis began to falter. SIU, which had been ranked No. 1 nationally just a few weeks prior, started to have trouble hearing its snap counts on offense. The visitors ended with nine costly penalties.

"The crowd was the factor that brought us from behind," Farley explained. "We came out and meticulously picked away at the lead and the crowd stayed full-force in the fourth quarter.

"It was a game the fans took away from the opponent. Our fans, I really believe, intimidated Southern."

Opposing coaches from Delaware and New Hampshire have expressed wonderment with regard to UNI's crowds in recent years. But former Salukis coach Jerry Kill truly can't be fond of Cedar Falls.

Nov. 12, 2005 couldn't have improved his opinion of the UNI campus.

"He'll say to this day, he just couldn't get a win in this place," Farley said of Kill.

That might explain why Kill sought "refuge" in the BCS ranks this off-season, moving upstate to Northern Illinois.

THE CATCH

Though it surrendered 465 total yards that Saturday, UNI's defense eventually bowed its back, forcing an SIU punt with nearly five minutes remaining.

Horne, who would rush for 103 yards on the day, soon was stuffed on a third-down attempt, setting up a fourth-and-two.

The Salukis salivated, making no attempts to hide a virtual all-out blitz.

"It was an outstanding play; our offense read the blitz and made the adjustment at the line of scrimmage," Farley noted.

Sanders stared down the onslaught, exhibiting intestinal fortitude he would soon trademark. He launched a 35-yard bomb to Goodwin, a 5-10, 173-pound speedster, over the middle.

Six points later, decibel levels in the Dome rivaled that of a rock concert.

"The catch by Jamie about took the roof off," Farley joked.

The fever pitch continued minutes later, when the hosts' undersized-yet-overachieving linebacker, Darin Heideman, dragged SIU's star running back, Arkee Whitlock, to the turf just shy of the marker on a fourth-and-four.

"It was a big celebration," Horne recalled of the conference-title clinching win. "(It was) a big comeback " that was Denver Broncos, John Elway stuff."

The 2005 SIU win was indicative of how sports' seasons can quickly unite virtual strangers. Goodwin was a one-year transfer from the University of Akron, for instance. Horne was a former prep all-American who rushed for over 1,000 total yards earlier in his career at Nebraska.

For one late-season run, all those Panthers from all corners of the country united. They nearly knocked off Appalachian State in a title game, on national television.

Then, they dispersed, to live very different lives as adults. Heideman works with the FBI. Hunter, who caught five key passes in the comeback win over SIU, is now serving the country in the armed forces. No one seems to know of Goodwin's whereabouts.

Regardless, they all looked at home in the UNI-Dome on Nov. 12, 2005. And that triumph over SIU may have laid the foundation for future UNI success.

"That game gave us great confidence," Farley noted. "To come from behind in that manner and to play with your back against the wall, that was critical to that national championship run.

"That game symbolized the players taking the program in their hands and taking the ownership to go out, perform, and win games. It was a great feeling."

Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com