LINCOLN, Neb. -- Joel Wiedel caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Francis in overtime to give Nebraska Wesleyan an emotional 37-34 victory over Concordia on Homecoming Saturday (Oct. 11) at Abel Stadium.

Concordia began the overtime period with a 36-yard field goal by Adam Meirose to go ahead 34-31.  On NWU's possession, Francis hit Wiedel for an 8-yard gain bringing up a key 3rd & 3 play for the Prairie Wolves.  Weidel snuck out the left side of the line and caught the screen pass from Francis and had nothing but open field in front of him as galloped into the end zone and the NWU sideline stormed the field in celebration.

It didn't look good for the Prairie Wolves late as Concordia scored 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to take a 31-20 lead with 4:56 remaining in the game as the air seemed to be let out of Abel Stadium.

NWU never quit and put together an impressive offensive drive.  Francis found had several key passes to his go-to guy Connor Zumpfe as the tandem proved why they are one of the best in the NAIA.  On 4th & 10, Zumpfe made a great catch along the Concordia sideline to keep the drive alive.  He then caught another 25-yard pass over his shoulder down to the 5-yard line.  On the very next play, Francis found Zumpfe for a TD to pull within five.  On the 2-point conversion, Francis threw a perfect back shoulder pass to Ryan Larsen to cut the lead to three.

Concordia tried to run out the clock, but the NWU defense forced a three and out to get the offense a chance to tie the game.  Francis marched the Wolves down the field hitting 5-7 passes, but his third down completion to Corey Jones was less than a yard short of a first down.  Coach Keller sent out Kramer Rath to attempt a tying field goal.  Rath connected from 31-yards out to tie the game with 1:11 remaining and eventually send it into overtime.

Nebraska Wesleyan got out to a fast start scoring on their first possession of the game as Joey Jones plunged in from 1-yard out.  They added another TD in the second quarter as Derek Hord had a 2-yard TD reception from Francis to put NWU ahead 14-0.

Concordia got a 62-yard TD pass from Von Thomas to Logan Otte to pull within a touchdown, but NWU extended the lead back to 10 on a 37-yard field goal by Rath.  To close out the first half, Concordia was able to get on the board with 0:09 left as Thomas found Jared Garcia from 13 yards out.

NWU led 17-14 at halftime, their first lead at halftime this season.  Concordia tied the game at 17-17 on a 30-yard field goal, but NWU answered with a 29-yard field goal by Rath.

Concordia then mounted to big drives as Thomas broke free up the middle for a 29-yard TD run to give the Bulldogs the 24-20 lead.  Thomas had another long run to set up his 4-yard pass to Clint Gardels to go ahead 31-20 before NWU mounted their comeback.

Once again, Nebraska Wesleyan had a huge day in the passing game.  Tyler Francis finished 31-49 for 399 yards to tie his career high from last week as he has passed for 798 yards the past two weeks.  Francis threw three TD passes and more importantly, zero interceptions.  Connor Zumpfe caught 11 passes for 171 yards and a TD for his fifth straight 100 yard performance.  Joel Wiedel also went over 100 receiving yards with 10 catches for 104 yards with a TD.  Wiedel also ran for 52 yards on 18 carries.

Von Thomas led the Concordia offense as he passed for 284 yards and three TDs, while running for 111 yards with a touchdown.

Three different NWU players had nine tackles to lead the Prairie Wolves defense with Phil Latimer having nine stops with 2.5 TFL and a QB sack.  Brandon McGill and Wes Boettcher also had nine tackles.