WAYNE – Saturday afternoon featured the 31st annual Egg Bowl for the Wayne State College football team opening a two-game homestand.
From Bob Cunningham Field on the campus of Wayne State College, the ‘Cats entertained Upper Iowa for a NSIC South Division showdown.
The Wayne State College defense pitched their first shutout of the season as the offense shined during the 62-0 home victory. WSC improves to 4-6 (2-4 NSIC South) while the Peacocks drop to 2-8 (0-6 South).
Scoring by quarter, WSC started with 17 points in the first before adding a touchdown in the second to lead 24-0 at the half. In the second half, the ‘Cats dropped 14 points in the third and poured in 24 points in the fourth.
Senior place kicker Ethan Knudson breaks the all-time career field goal record surpassing Nick Hope (36-50) after going 2-for-2 with made field goals from 32-yards and 25-yards. Knudson is currently 38-49 in career field goals.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance finished 9 for 10 with 144 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Redshirt freshman running back Devin Merkuris carried the ball 16 times for 187 yards with two touchdowns while adding two receptions for 50 yards. Junior tailback Deshawn Massey ran for 136 yards on 21 carries scoring once while other rushing scores came from junior running back Ryyan Wilkins from eight carries, 64 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior wideout Taurean Grady caught two balls for 44 yards and a score, sophomore wide out Mason Lee caught the other receiving touchdown from 15 yards out and senior tight end Conner Paxton caught a 16-yard pass. Other receptions went to senior tight end Corbin Foster (two for 14 yards) and redshirt freshman Jason Hawkins (one for five yards).
Defensively, sophomore linebacker Nick Joynt recorded a team-high nine tackles (six solo) followed by senior linebacker Tyler Thomsen with seven tackles (six solo). Senior defensive lineman MJ Blankenfeld finished with six tackles (four solo) with a six-yard sack and a fumble recovery; senior defensive lineman Jacob Protzman tallied four solo tackles (three TFLs) which included two sacks for seven-yards combined and senior linebacker Ian Ailts added three solo tackles (one sack for eight-yards. Interceptions came from junior linebacker Jalen Burgess and Ailts.
Wayne State College went 7-7 in red zone scores recording 29 first downs while going 2-7 on third down conversions and 2-2 on fourth down conversions.
The ‘Cats finished with 415 rushing yards on 56 carries along with 144 passing yards on nine completions. WSC ran 66 plays for 559 yards averaging 8.5 yards per play.
The Wayne State College football team will close out their 11-week league schedule with Sioux Falls coming to town on Saturday, November 16 at 1 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Wildcat Sports Network (Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9) and waynedailynews.com is set for 12:30 p.m. with Voice of the Wildcats Aaron Scheffler.