WAVERLY, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan led undefeated Wartburg College by six points at halftime, but the 15
th-ranked Knights scored 28 unanswered points to start the second half as Wartburg defeated the Prairie Wolves 41-20 in the 2017 season finale.
Wartburg finishes the year undefeated at 10-0 and they were given the Iowa Conference championship trophy after the contest. NWU ends their season 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the IIAC.
The Prairie Wolves battled hard against the conference's best team and looked primed for an upset in the first half. For the fourth time in the past five games, NWU took the ball to start the game and scored on their opening drive.
Jonathan Curti found fullback
Austin Taylor for a 6-yard TD pass for his first career score in his final game.
An early 7-0 lead by the Prairie Wolves lasted less than 20 seconds as Wartburg returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. NWU had another time consuming drive as they got the ball back, but eventually were forced to punt. Wartburg didn't run their first offensive play until the 5:34 mark of the first quarter.
The Prairie Wolves defense had their best performance of the season in the first half. Wartburg had their first offensive threat late in the first quarter getting inside the redzone. On a 4
th & 1 play, the Knights running back Dylan Binion was stuffed at the line lead by
Grant Bednar. Early in the 2
nd quarter, the Prairie Wolves would also be stopped on a 4
th & goal play from the 1-yard line as they threatened to take the lead.
Right before the second half, NWU was able to take the lead back. It was a quick strike attack as Curti found
Shaka Taylor for a 38-yard TD pass to cap a three play drive. The PAT was no good, giving the Prairie Wolves a 13-7 lead at halftime. NWU held Wartburg to only 133 yards in the first half.
Wartburg woke up in the second half as they scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions to take the 35-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. Three of those touchdowns were passes from quarterback Matt Sacia to Riley Brockway, who became the Knights all-time leading receiver.
NWU didn't quit and made a late push starting with Curti finding
Derrick Curtis for a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead down to 35-20. After making it a two-possession game, the Prairie Wolves defense came out and stopped the Knights to give the ball back to NWU.
The Prairie Wolves had prime field position as a kick catch interference penalty on the punt set NWU up at the 31-yard line. Curti completed five passes to get NWU down to the 3-yard line as the offense was prime to make it a one score game. However, the Knight defense sacked Curti twice for a loss of 35 yards to end the threat and seal the victory. Wartburg tacked on one last touchdown for a bigger cushion.
Wartburg finished the game with 434 yards of total offense, compared to 371 for the Prairie Wolves. NWU had only four net yards rushing as Curti was sacked eight times for a loss of 84 yards.
Shaka Taylor was also limited on the ground with 20 carries for 54 yards.
Curti was very solid in the passing game completing 33-52 passes for 367 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He set new single season records for completions and touchdowns in the game and ends the year with a record 3,255 yards passing.
Taylor led NWU with seven catches for 111 yards and a TD.
Derrick Curtis had five catches for 71 yards.
Wartburg QB Matt Sacia passed for 336 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Riley Brockway caught nine passes for 245 yards and four touchdowns.
Senior defensive end
Tyler Sorensen had a huge game to close out his career as a captain of the Prairie Wolves defense. Sorensen had 10 total tackles with 3.0 quarterback sacks and 4.0 TFLs for a loss of 22 yards.
