STORM LAKE, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan scored 37 unanswered points, including 30 in the 2^nd half as the Prairie Wolves improved to 3-0 on the season defeating Buena Vista 37-16 in the American Rivers Conference football opener on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 21) at Rollins Stadium in Storm Lake, Iowa.
 
The Prairie Wolves scored with 16 seconds remaining before halftime for their first points of the half to trail 16-7 at the break.  They came out in the second half and rolled scoring four touchdowns on offense while the NWU defense held the Beavers to less than 100 yards in the second half.
 
With the win, NWU is now 3-0 for the first time since 2006 as they get their first road conference win since 2017.  NWU will take this momentum into their bye week before returning home on Oct. 5 to host Simpson College for Homecoming.
 
It wasn't easy for the Prairie Wolves offense as they were without their top three running backs due to injury.  Coach Keller turned to senior quarterback Jonathan Curti in the passing game and he responded in a big way.
 
Curti passed for a season-high 441 yards completing 28-52 with four touchdowns and no interceptions.  Curti has now thrown 14 touchdown passes through the first three games.  His first TD pass was to Kevin Tims on a 36-yard connection down the middle of the field right before the break.
 
In the second half, NWU got their first touchdown on a 32-yard pass play from Curti to Alex Mathis.  The play was on a 4^th & 18, where Curti scrambled to find Mathis open in the corner of the end zone.
 
On the second play of the 4^th quarter the Prairie Wolves took their first lead of the game when DaMicah Burtin scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard TD plunge.  The 2-point conversion pass to Logan Hughes was good making the score 22-16.
 
NWU's defense recorded two fourth quarter interceptions by Kaden Dawe and Gasper Atencio that setup a pair of Prairie Wolves touchdowns.  Curti hit Derrik Curtis on a 30-yard TD strike with 8:43 to play and the same combo connected on a 2-point conversion.  On the final drive, Curti threw a fade to the back of the end zone and Curtis made a one-handed grab for his second TD of the game to start the celebration on the Prairie Wolves sidelines.
 
The Prairie Wolves had a chance to jump ahead early in the game, but they were unable to capitalize on being inside the BVU red zone twice.  NWU missed a field goal then turned the ball over on downs.
BVU took advantage and jumped ahead early in the second quarter.  The Beavers scored on a 2-yard run on the second play of the quarter, then on their next drive a 52-yard TD pass put them ahead 13-0.  The Beavers could have gone ahead by three touchdowns but the Prairie Wolves defense held forcing a field goal giving BVU the 16-0 2^nd quarter lead.
 
The Beavers could not get anything going in the 2^nd half as they finished with 355 total yards of offense, getting 263 in the 1^st half.  BVU managed only 24 yards in the 4^th quarter.
 
NWU ended the game with 473 yards of total offense, 441 through the air.  Curtis led the Prairie Wolves with six catches for 105 yards and two TDs.  Tims caught seven passes for 90 yards and Matchis had four grabs for 74 yards with a TD.
 
Kaden Dawe led the Prairie Wolves defense with 9 tackles, 2 TLFs and an interception.  Jacob Garnas made eight tackles.