NATCHITOCHES, La. -- No. 20 Midwestern State made every play on defense and flashed its trademark big play offense in an historic 33-7 win over FCS Northwestern State Saturday night at Turpin Stadium.

The Mustangs held the Demons without a first down for the first 20 minutes of the game to build a commanding 26-7 edge at the half thanks to an offense piloted by junior Zach Purcell, who was making his first start at quarterback.

The Kingwood product connected on 26-of-40 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns including scoring strikes 38 yards to Tyrique Edwards and 25 yards to Kylan Harrison before senior All American Juwan Johnson came down wit a 32-yard TD on a Hail Mary on the final play of the half.

Johnson's touchdown appeared to take the air out of the Demons, who play at LSU next weekend. But that was setup by a Damarcus Wilson interception that was returned 42 yards to the Northwestern State 32-yard line with 13 seconds remaining in the half.

The Demons gained some short-lived momentum midway through the second quarter as Jared West rushed 10 yards for a touchdown to cap a 12-play, 75-yard drive to pull within 19-7 with 1:07 remaining the first half.

After forcing Midwestern State to punt, Northwestern State drove to the MSU Texas 35-yard before Shelton Eppler's only interception of the game.

Johnson late first-half heroics pushed the MSU Texas advantage back to 19 points and the Mustangs' defense kept the Demons off of the scoreboard in the second half.

Purcell capped off scoring with a 7-yard keeper early in the fourth quarter.

The stout Midwestern State defense limited to the Demons to 243 total yards including 185 yards through the air and 58 rushing yards.

Senior linebacker Rigoberto Carrillo paced the Mustangs with nine tackles, while sophomore defensive end Melik Owens made seven tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Edwards paced the receiving corps with five receptions for 76 yards as Purcell connected with nine different receivers.

Sophomore Lazarus Fisher accounted for 69 yards on 15 carries to lead the Midwestern State rushing attack.

Midwestern State battles Lindenwood, which fell 59-31 to Eastern Washington in its opener, Saturday night at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Mo. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.