Wayne State used a balanced offensive attach and two defensive touchdowns on interception returns as the Wildcats cruised to a 44-7 Northern Sun Conference football victory Saturday evening over the University of Jamestown in the Family Day Game at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. The Wildcats move to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC while the Jimmies drop to 0-4 and 0-3 in the conference.
The Wildcats scored on their first two possessions of the game followed by an interception return for touchdown midway through the opening stanza to take an early 17-0 lead.
The opening drive saw WSC march 67 yards on eight plays with senior
Boston Hensley booting a 24-yard field goal for the first Wildcat points.
Following a 50-yard punt return by
Brayden Chaney that setup the Wildcats at the Jamestown 25, WSC scored quickly on a 16-yard pass from
Brady McGill to
Alex Phelps giving the 'Cats a 10-0 lead at the 8:24 mark of the first quarter.
On the next drive, Jamestown moved the ball to the WSC 33 when Chaney stepped in front of a Jamestown pass by Jacob Mattick and sprinted 71 yards to the end zone for a pick six giving the 'Cats a 17-0 lead.
The lone score of the second quarter was a three-yard run by senior running back
Dawson Forgy that capped an eight-play, 78-yard drive with 2:27 left before halftime giving Wayne State a 24-0 lead at intermission.
WSC came up with 20 points in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. The first score came on a 30-yard connection from McGill to
Keaten Bonderson with 10:55 to go in the third, increasing the lead to 31-0.
Forgy raced 36 yards to the end zone with 1:39 to play in the third quarter for his second score of the night, pushing the Wildcat advantage to 37-0.
Senior linebacker
Clyde Hinton intercepted a Jamestown pass on the ensuing drive and ran 33 yards for the touchdown making the score 44-0 after three quarters.
Jamestown avoided the shutout early in the fourth quarter when Ethan Hoffman delivered a 33-yard scoring strike to Gage Solano with 10:57 remaining in the game to make the final score 44-7.
Wayne State held a 433-283 edge in total offense over Jamestown. The 'Cats gained 188 yards on the ground and 245 through the air.
Forgy ran for 92 yards on 16 carries and had two rushing touchdowns for the 'Cats followed by
Brennan Hayes with 51 yards on six rushes.
McGill completed 11 of 20 passes for 215 yards and two scores. Phelps had four receptions for 89 yards and one TD followed by two catches for
Charlie Lamski.
Defensively, senior linebacker
Kaden Johnson had nine tackles followed by
Luke Lambert with eight.
James Frank added seven stops including a sack while Chaney collected three solo tackles, a 71-yard interception return for touchdown and one pass breakup. Hinton added a 33-yard interception return for touchdown.
The Wildcats hit the road next Saturday to open NSIC South Division play traveling to Marshall, Minnesota for a 5 p.m. contest at Southwest Minnesota State.
