Box Score Wayne State 27 Concordia-St. Paul 23
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Mitchell Hansen fired a 15-yard touchdown pass to senior
Nate Rogers on 3
rd and 14 with 23 seconds to play giving Wayne State College a dramatic 27-23 Northern Sun Conference football win Saturday afternoon over Concordia-St. Paul at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. WSC is now 5-4 and 3-2 in the NSIC South Division while CSP falls to 1-8 and 0-5 in divisional play.
The first quarter was an offensive slugfest. WSC scored on the second play of the game as senior running back
Rashad Trimble raced 70 yards for a touchdown, giving the 'Cats a 7-0 lead 48 seconds into the contest.
WSC took a 14-0 led later in the first quarter as junior quarterback
Taylor Reedy fired a 20-yard scoring pass to
Layne Sullivan to extend the lead to 14-0 at the 3:01 mark of the quarter.
Concordia-St. Paul then marched 67 yards on five plays with sophomore quarterback Maxon Hutton finding the end zone on a nine-yard run making the score 14-7 after one quarter.
Both teams kicked field goals for the lone points of the second quarter as Wayne State's
Ethan Knudson booted an 18-yard field goal at the 9:30 mark for a 17-7 Wildcat lead followed by a 38-yard field goal by Concordia-St. Paul's Jonas Schenderlein with 3:47 to play second quarter making the score 17-10 at intermission.
The game turned into a defensive struggle for the third quarter and most of the fourth.
WSC was limited to just 40 yards in the third quarter while Concordia-St. Paul used two more Schenderlein field goals of 22 and 37 yards to pull within one point at 17-16 entering the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats put together a 10-play, 50 yard drive late third quarter and into the fourth and scored on a 32-yard field goal from Knudson to put WSC ahead 20-16 with 14:03 to play.
Later in the quarter, Concordia-St. Paul blocked a Wayne State punt and had the ball 1
st and goal at the 'Cats 7 but the WSC defense held the Golden Bears and got the ball back on downs.
Concordia-St. Paul then forced a three-and-out on WSC and got the ball in great field position at the WSC 34. Four plays later, the Golden Bears took their first lead of the game as backup quarterback Ron Johnson connected with Deceon Schumann on a three-yard pass giving CSP a 23-20 lead with 2:56 remaining.
Wayne State was also using a backup quarterback for the final 1 ½ quarters as redshirt freshman
Mitchell Hansen replaced an injured
Taylor Reedy in the third quarter.
Hansen then directed the Wildcats on a game-winning drive that covered 11 plays and 75 yards, ending on a 15-yard touchdown pass to senior
Nate Rogers on a 3
rd and 14 for his only catch of the game with 23 seconds to give the Wildcats a dramatic ending with a 27-23 victory.
Concordia-St. Paul ended the game with a 315-309 advantage in total offense over the Wildcats. WSC rushed for 200 yards and passed for 109 while the Golden Bears had 145 rushing and 170 passing.
Senior
Rashad Trimble led the Wildcats on the ground with 96 yards on 12 carries and one TD followed by Hansen with 43 yards on eight attempts.
Reedy completed 6 of 11 passes for 62 yards and one score while Hansen was 4 of 13 for 47 yards and one TD.
Junior
Layne Sullivan led the 'Cats in receiving with 47 yards on four catches. Rogers moved into second place all-time in career TD catches at WSC with his 25
th TD reception, the lone catch of the game.
Redshirt freshman linebacker
Ben Elznic paced the Wildcat defense with nine tackles and one fumble recovery.
Ian Ailts added eight stops with a forced fumble and interception to end the game. Senior linebacker
DeWayne Scott also had eight tackles while
Aaron Wright and
Glenn Harris each had interceptions for the Wildcats.
Wayne State will be on the road next Saturday for an NSIC South Division game at #3 Minnesota State with kickoff set for noon at Mankato, Minnesota.
