Second Half Surge Too Much For Wildcats, Augustana Outscores WSC 23-0 In Final Two Quarters

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Following a home overtime victory last time out, the Wayne State College football team visited their third NSIC South Division foe of the 2019 campaign.

From Kirkeby-Over Stadium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, WSC took on Augustana University Saturday afternoon.

Early on WSC dominated both sides of the ball including the kicking game building a 13-0 lead in the first half. Augie knocked through a late first half field goal to trail 13-3 at the break. The second half then favored Augie with 23 points holding the ‘Cats to four first downs. Final saw Augustana win 26-13 to improve to 2-1 while WSC fell to 1-2 overall and in South Division play.

The Wildcats marched their opening drive down the field on a 16 play, 77-yard drive capped off by a 12-yard passing touchdown from redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance to junior wideout Taurean Grady. Senior place kicker Ethan Knudson then made a pair of field goals from 22-yards and 23-yards in the first half.

After missing a field goal earlier in the first half, sophomore place kicker Luis Guarita then drove through a 30-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the second quarter. Guarita also converted field goals of 34-yards, 21-yards and 25-yards in the second half while junior quarterback Kyle Saddler connected with senior wideouts Brett Shepley (four yards) and Jake Welsheimer (23-yards) on passing scores.

McCance finished the game 21-42 for 246 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. His favorite target was sophomore wideout Mason Lee who had eight receptions for 54 yards. Redshirt freshman wideout Jason Hawkins tallied four catches for 52 yards as Grady accounted for three receptions for 70 yards and a score. The leading rusher was redshirt freshman running back Devin Merkuris on nine carries for 17 yards.

Defensively, senior linebacker Ian Ailts paced WSC with 12 tackles (eight solo) to go along with a tackle for loss and interception. Junior linebacker Jalen Burgess followed with seven tackles (five solo) while junior defensive back Zaiden Hernandez and senior defensive lineman Jacob Protzman (three TFL’s and a sack) both added five solo tackles.

After the first quarter, WSC had eight first downs before closing the game with a total of 13. The ‘Cats also finished the game 6-19 on third down conversions after starting 5-5. Augie won the time of possession battle 33:08- 26:52 while outgaining Wayne State (399-296).

The Wayne State College football team will next host back-to-back games starting on Saturday, September 28 when Concordia-St. Paul comes to town for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Join Voice of the Wildcats, Aaron Scheffler on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and online at waynedailynews.com with the pregame show set for 5:30 p.m. WSC will also host Minnesota Crookston on Saturday, October 5 at 1 p.m.

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