Nebraska-Kearney 31 Wayne State 7
Nebraska-Kearney scored twice in the second quarter on a pair of trick plays as the Lopers downed Wayne State 31-7 in non-conference college football played Saturday afternoon in Wayne. For 1-1 UNK, it was the 10th straight win by the Lopers over the Wildcats on the gridiron, while Wayne State slipped to 0-2 on the season.
After holding UNK to a three and out on their first series, Wayne State got the ball and scored on their second play from scrimmage as sophomore quarterback Silas Fluellen found Brian Chapman on a 68-yard scoring play, giving the Wildcats a 7-0 lead with 12:31 left in the first quarter. UNK scored on the ensuing drive as the Lopers marched 59 yards on 10 plays, capped on a one-yard run by quarterback Dennis Havrilla with 8:05 left in the first quarter, to tie the score at 7-7.
The Lopers then used a pair of trick plays in the second quarter to take control of the game. Eric Myrick delivered a 46-yard scoring strike to Cory Sleeth on a fake reverse/pass to put UNK in front 14-7 with 14:47 remaining in the second quarter. Later in the quarter, Geoff Carnahan booted a 24-yard field goal at the 7:28 mark to give UNK a 17-7 lead. The final trick play happened late in the first half as Carnahan executed a 14 yard pass to Tyler McNitt on a fake field goal attempt, extending the UNK lead to 24-7 with 3:21 left in the first half.
The lone score in the second half came with 7:14 left in the game as McNitt was on the receiving end of a 15-yard pass from Dennis Havrilla to cap an eight-play, 70 yard drive to make the final score 31-7.
UNK outyarded Wayne State 451-215 in the contest. The Lopers had 275 yards rushing and 176 passing while WSC was held to just 32 yards rushing and 215 yards passing. Jake Richards led a balanced rushing attack for UNK with 99 yards on 17 carries. Loper quarterback Dennis Havrilla completed 9 of 16 passes for 109 yards with one interception and one touchdown.
For Wayne State, sophomore quarterback Silas Fluellen completed 16 of 29 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Travis Rhone was the leading rusher for WSC with 42 yards on 15 carries. Defensively, senior linebacker Nick Baldetti recorded 17 tackles (five solo, 12 assisted) with Matt Greenway adding three solo and 10 assists for 13 total tackles.
Wayne State opens Northern Sun Conference play next weekend on the road at Upper Iowa with kickoff slated for 1:00 p.m.
