Tigers fall into early hole, drop GPAC football contest at Hastings
Sep. 24—HASTINGS, Neb. — In what has become an all-too-common refrain for the Dakota Wesleyan football team in 2022, the Tigers could not climb out of a tough early deficit on Saturday.
Hastings College built a 16-0 lead in the first quarter and led by 23 points before DWU could crack the scoreboard and the Broncos picked up a 32-13 Great Plains Athletic Conference win at Lloyd Wilson Field.
Saturday marked the fourth instance this season in which the Tigers (0-5, 0-4 GPAC) have fallen behind by at least 14 points in the first half before getting on the scoreboard.
Hastings (4-1, 3-1 GPAC) did not waste time striking first, scoring on the fourth play of the game with a 28-yard touchdown pass from John Zamora to Garrett Esch to put Hastings up 7-0 with 68 seconds elapsed in the game.
DWU's ensuing drive didn't get far and a bad snap on the Tigers' first punt attempt led to an illegal kicking penalty and a safety, allowing the Broncos to go up 9-0 less than 4 minutes into the game. Later in the quarter, Hastings scored on a 37-yard Antoine Murphy touchdown run to lead 16-0, and an Ethan Wilborn 32-yard touchdown catch from Zamora put Hastings up 23-0 with 10:36 left in the first half.
The Tigers moved the ball on drives of 67 and 57 yards in the first half but those efforts for points fizzled out with a fourth-down stop in the first quarter at the Hastings 29-yard line and a missed 35-yard field goal with 6 minutes to go in the second quarter.
DWU broke through with a 10-play, 52-yard drive late in the first half, with Kiel Nelson catching an 11-yard scoring pass from Connor Drake to cut the Hastings lead to 22-7 at halftime.
DWU had three drives in the third quarter that resulted in two punts and an interception before tightening the Hastings lead with a Jamin Arend 2-yard touchdown run with 10:23 remaining in the game, bringing the Tigers to within 26-13 after a missed two-point play.
Hastings then sealed the game late with a second passing touchdown connection between Zamora and Esch, this time from 28 yards to set the final margin at 32-13 with 4 minutes left.
Making his first career start at quarterback, Drake completed 20-of-37 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions. Arend finished with 71 yards on 19 rushes and seven catches for 52 yards, while Garrett Mandolfo had 39 yards on nine carries. Nelson finished with 142 yards on six catches. On defense, Adam DeJong had an interception, while Brendan Kennedy and Caleb Maciejewski each had nine tackles.
After being charged with 149 yards total in penalties over the course of the first four games, DWU had 117 yards on 11 penalties on Saturday against Hastings. The Broncos were penalized just once for five yards.
DWU returns to Joe Quintal Field on Saturday, Oct. 1 for a Blue and White Days contest with Concordia (Neb.), which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
