Wayne State 20 Southwest Minnesota State 14
Wayne State needed two late defensive stops to hold off a fourth quarter rally by visiting Southwest Minnesota State as the Wildcats posted a 20-14 Northern Sun Conference South Division football victory over the Mustangs Saturday at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. The 'Cats move to 6-2 and 2-2 in the NSIC South Division while SMSU drops to 4-4 and 1-3 in divisional play.
After a scoreless first quarter, WSC opened the scoring early in the second quarter on a
Nick Bohn one-yard TD run on 4
th and goal to cap an 82-yard drive using 13 plays and Wayne State took a 7-0 lead.
The 'Cats scored again later in the second period to build a 14-0 lead as Bohn found wide receiver
Trevor Marshall on a 38-yard scoring pass with 3:54 to play in the opening half.
Southwest Minnesota State closed the gap just before halftime as freshman quarterback Marcus Martin found the end zone on a two-yard rush to culminate an 11-play, 75 yard drive with 13 seconds to play in the half making the score 14-7 at intermission.
The lone score of the third quarter came on Wayne State's first series of the second half as senior
Alex Powders booted a 27-yard field goal, giving the 'Cats a 17-7 lead.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Powders connected on another field goal as he booted a 35-yarder to increase Wayne State's lead to 20-7 with 14:17 remaining.
The ensuing drive saw the visiting Mustangs answer as senior running back Jesse Sherwood broke loose for a 56-yard run, cutting the Wildcat lead to 20-14 with 11:13 to play.
Later in the quarter, Wayne State had the ball at their own 40 when SMSU sacked quarterback
Nick Bohn and forced a fumble recovering at the WSC 29.
But the Wildcat defense stopped the Mustangs on 4
th and 1 at the WSC 20 to get the ball back.
Wayne State was forced to punt giving SMSU the ball with 41 seconds to play at their own 35. Wildcat sophomore linebacker
Alex Kowalczyk intercepted a Marcus Martin pass intended for Dustin Pampel at the Mustang 42 to seal the win.
WSC outgained SMSU in the contest 335-277. The 'Cats had 150 yards rushing and 185 passing while the Mustangs gained 177 on the ground and 100 through the air.
Bohn was the top WSC rusher with 38 yards on 18 attempts followed by
Anthony Watkins with 34 yards on 11 carries and
Jacob Keiser with 33 yards on eight rushes.
Throwing the ball, Bohn completed 15 of 23 passes for 185 yards and one TD. His top target was
Ashten Schmaderer with five grabs for 50 yards with
Jadon Johnson adding 62 yards receiving on four catches.
Sophomore linebacker
Alex Kowalczyk recorded eight tackles and had the game-clinching interception to seal the win.
Jacob Byrd and
Jaylan Scott each added seven tackles.
The Wildcats will be at home again next Saturday hosting Upper Iowa in the Hall of Fame Game starting at 12 p.m.