WAYNE – A top 25 showdown between a pair of NSIC South Division opponents didn’t disappoint Saturday afternoon.
From Bob Cunningham Field on the campus of Wayne State College, #23 WSC hosted #22 Augustana.
A final penalty which marked the eighth accepted against WSC for 77 yards, gave Augie the advantage to run out the clock and win 32-24. The Vikings improved to 6-1 (2-1 NSIC South) while the ‘Cats had their four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 5-2 (2-1 NSIC South).
Augustana finished the game with 332 yards passing thanks to senior Kyle Saddler who connected with senior Sean Engel on their first scoring drive from 31 yards. After the extra point, Augie led 7-0 with 9:19 left in the opening quarter.
WSC then put a long drive together of 17 plays for 60 yards which led to a 25-yard field goal from junior Alex Powders with 2:27 left in the first to trail 7-3.
Augustana then tacked on another score from the duo of Saddler to Engel for a 20-yard score with 12:32 remaining in the half. Sophomore Ben Limburg then knocked through a 43-yard field goal with 9:14 left in the second quarter to push the lead to 17-3.
Wayne State was then able to put together another long drive with 11 plays taking up 72 yards as senior running back Anthony Watkins ran in the four-yard score. Following the Powders extra point, the lead was cut down to 17-10 with 4:11 left until half.
The Vikings missed a late second quarter field goal as the score at the half was 17-10 in favor of Augie.
Augustana began the second half with a scoring drive when Limburg knocked through a 25-yard field goal with 11:55 left in the third quarter to push Augie’s lead up to 20-10. Later in the quarter, Saddler connected with junior Devon Jones from 40 yards. The PAT was then missed which made the score 26-10 with 5:43 left in the third.
The Wildcat offense then strung together a couple scoring drives as redshirt freshman Nick Bohn connected with junior Mason Lee on a 48-yard strike with 4:58 left in the third. WSC trailed 26-17.
Augustana scored one last time in-between the Wildcat touchdowns when Saddler found Jones a second time this time from 18-yards. Junior lineman Ryan Parker blocked the PAT as senior safety CJ Burress returned the ball for about 43 yards. Score was 32-17 early in the fourth.
Bohn found Lee on a fourth down and goal from seven yards later in the fourth (4:54 remaining) and with the extra point, trailed 32-24.
Augie then ran out the clock and won 32-24.
Bohn finished the game 17-32 for 208 yards with one interception and two touchdowns while he also ran 17 times for 77 yards. Watkins added 10 carries for 46 yards and three catches for 40 yards.
Lee hauled in four catches for 70 yards with two touchdowns, senior Trystn Ducker caught a team-high seven balls for 54 yards and senior Taurean Grady had three catches for 44 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker Nick Joynt recorded 11 tackles (nine solo) with 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
Augustana totaled 530 yards on 71 plays compared to 66 plays for 364 yards of total offense for WSC.
1st 2nd Half 3rd 4th Final:
7 10 17 9 6 32 – Augustana
3 7 10 7 7 24 – Wayne State College
#23 Wayne State College will next be on the road two straight weeks first by visiting Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, October 23 at 5 p.m.
