Wayne State 26 Northern State 24
Wayne State College overcame four turnovers on the road to hang on for a 26-24 Northern Sun Conference win at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota Saturday afternoon. With the win, Wayne State moved into a three-way tie for second place in the NSIC at 3-1 in the league and 3-3 overall while dropping Northern State to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the NSIC. WSC is now 7-1 in NSIC road games under third year head coach Dan McLaughlin.
Wayne State opened the scoring midway through the first quarter after the Wildcats' defense forced a Northern State turnover with Tyler Krueger recovering the ball at the NSU 32 yard line. Sophomore quarterback Silas Fluellen found Frederick Bruno on a 28-yard scoring play on a 4th and 17 from the Wolves' 28-yard line, giving WSC a 7-0 lead with 5:35 left in the first quarter. Northern State countered on the following drive as the Wolves marched 46 yards on five plays, capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Eric Ellingson to John Migdahl, evening the score at 7-7 with 3:04 to go in the first quarter.
Northern State used a WSC turnover to take a 10-7 lead later in the quarter as the Wolves intercepted a Silas Fluellen pass to get the ball at the Wildcat 20-yard line. Thomas Parrott booted a 38-yard field with 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter, giving the Wolves a 10-7 lead.
Midway through the second quarter, Wayne State's Tanner Schacher blocked a Northern State punt, giving the Wildcats the ball at their own 47-yard line. The Wildcats drove inside the NSU one-yard line, but on third and goal WSC quarterback Silas Fluellen fumbled the ball as he lunged for the goal line and the Wolves recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback to preserve their 10-7 lead entering halftime.
Early in the third quarter, WSC regained the lead thanks to a stellar 48-yard punt return by Nile Legania that gave WSC the ball at the Northern State 20-yard line. On the first play of the drive, backup quarterback Justin Happ, replacing a struggling Silas Fluellen, handed off to junior running back Travis Rhone, who scampered 20 yards for the score to put WSC in front 14-10 with 10:07 remaining in the third quarter. But again, Northern State responded on the ensuing drive to retake the lead as the Wolves grounded out a 14-play, 70 yard drive, using 7:35 of the clock to take a 17-14 lead after Ellingson connected with Brian Jark on a five-yard scoring play with 2:25 left in the third quarter.
WSC tied the score at 17-17 on the next drive as sophomore Nick Hope booted a 25-yard field goal with 12:40 to go in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats then took advantage of a bad snap by Northern State center Mike Zerr, bouncing the ball past quarterback Eric Ellingson, through the end zone for a team safety at the 10:16 mark, to take a 19-17 lead. Getting the ball back, the Wildcats took advantage and drove 44 yards for another score to take a 26-17 lead following a nine-yard run by Rhone, his second touchdown of the second half, with 6:12 remaining.
Northern State wouldn't go away as the Wolves took the ensuing drive and marched 57 yards on six plays, capped by a 13-yard run from Zain Gower, to cut the Wildcat lead to 26-24 with 4:34 to go in the game. WSC was forced to punt on their next drive, giving Northern State the ball at their own 37-yard line with 1:30 left in the game. But WSC senior linebacker Nick Baldetti preserved the Wildcat win by intercepting a Northern State pass with 50 seconds to go, giving WSC a 26-24 win.
WSC gained 258 yards of total offense while holding Northern State to just 198 yards, including 37 yards on the ground. It's the second straight week that WSC has held their opponent to under 200 yards of total offense. Rhone finished the game with 143 yards rushing on 21 carries with two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats offensively. Fluellen completed just 7 of 17 passes for 84 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown. Logan Masters was the top receiver for WSC with three receptions for 27 yards, marking the 17th straight game that Masters has recorded at least two catches in a game.
Defensively, junior defensive end Tyler Krueger had a game-high 11 tackles with eight solo stops, 4.5 tackles for losses totaling 11 yards, to go with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Wayne State will be on the road again next weekend traveling to Bemidji, Minnesota to take on Bemidji State in a 1:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest.
