WINONA, MN – The 2019 season began with a road divisional showdown for the Wayne State College football team Saturday afternoon.
From Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winona, Minnesota, the ‘Cats visited Winona State University.
Winona State jumped ahead 23-0 through three quarters of play before WSC did all of their scoring in the final quarter to fall 37-20. The Warriors opened their season at 1-0 while Wayne State fell to 0-1.
The Wildcat defense held WSU to just a first quarter field goal as senior placekicker Paul Ortiz went 3-for-4 in the game (25-yards; 33-yards and 27-yards).
Junior quarterback Owen Burke completed a six-yard passing touchdown to freshman Dakota Matthees early in the second quarter. Winona State led 16-0 at the break.
In the third quarter, Burke hooked up with sophomore wideout Tyler Knutson for a 31-yard score to extend their lead to 23-0.
Wayne State College then got on the board when redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance found junior Taurean Grady on a four-yard passing touchdown at the 14:03 mark.
The Warriors then scored on their next two series from a 44-yard rushing touchdown by redshirt junior running back Landon Jacobson and Burke found freshman wideout Sawyer Maly on a 48-yard score.
Senior Aaron Wright returned a kickoff for a 100-yard score and McCance hooked up with sophomore wideout Mason Lee from nine-yards out for the final Wildcat scores.
McCance finished the game 21-37 for 284 yards and three interceptions as he also was the leading rusher with 47 yards on 14 rushes. Both Lee (72 yards) and Grady (68 yards) had five receptions each and a touchdown.
Senior placekicker Ethan Knudson finished 2-for-2 on PATs.
Defensively, junior strong safety Kevin Ransom recorded a team-high 16 tackles (seven solo) followed by senior linebacker Ian Ailts (six solo); junior Zaiden Hernandez (five solo) and junior linebacker Jalen Burgess (four solo) all had eight tackles. Senior defensive lineman Kolbie Foster added a sack for two tackles for loss.
Senior defensive back Cole Monckton paced the Warrior defense with nine tackles (five solo) as redshirt junior defensive back Cam Gavin had two interceptions returned for 49 yards and senior linebacker David Smith returned one for 35 yards.
As a team, Wayne State was held to 88 rushing yards and ran 65 plays for 372 yards.
The Wayne State College football team will play their home opener on Saturday, September 14 during family day with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. against Southwest Minnesota State. Join Voice of the Wildcats, Aaron Scheffler and color commentary from Justin Raulston on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and online at waynedailynews.com apart of the Wildcat Sports Network with pregame coverage set for 5:30 p.m.
Thursday NSIC scores:
Concordia-St. Paul 41, Sioux Falls 17
Bemidji State 33, Northern State 7
St. Cloud State 35, University of Mary 12
#14 Minnesota Duluth 52, Minot State 7
MSU Moorhead 44, Minnesota Crookston 20
Saturday scores:
Winona State, 37, Wayne State College 20
Augustana 52, Upper Iowa 0
#3 Minnesota State-Mankato 38, Southwest Minnesota State 23