LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska Wesleyan football dropped its American Rivers Conference opener on Saturday (Oct. 3) with a 69-26 loss to No. 12/18 Wartburg.
Nebraska Wesleyan (0-4, 0-1 A-R-C) forced an interception on Wartburg's second drive of the game, but the Knights scored on eight of their 14 possessions. Wartburg totaled 520 yards of offense to Nebraska Wesleyan's 404 and ran 81 offensive plays. The Knights had three explosive touchdowns on either a rush of 15 or more yards or a pass of 20 or more yards, while the Prairie Wolves recorded one explosive score.
Ian Gebhardt had Nebraska Wesleyan's first scoring play of the game, ripping off a 16-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Levi Murphey on the third Prairie Wolf drive of the game. Jace Winkler put through the PAT to briefly tie the game at seven. In his first game back in the lineup this season from injury, Joey McLaughlin caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Murphey in the third quarter. The defense got in on the action shortly after, as Brice Eloume forced a fumble that Owen Long picked up and took 35 yards to the house. Late in the fourth quarter, the Prairie Wolves added another touchdown with a 33-yard pass from backup quarterback Casen Carroll to Stepeney Lee. It was the first career touchdown for both Carroll and Lee.
Hadley Hudson led the Prairie Wolves with 11 tackles. The 11 tackles are a career high for the freshman.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wartburg struck first on a 17-yard touchdown run on the seventh play of its opening drive to find the end zone first.
The Prairie Wolves had two of their best offensive drives of the opening half after that point, driving into Wartburg territory on the first, but an interception ended the possession. The second ended in a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ian Gebhardt, who broke a pair of tackles on his way to the end zone.
Two more chunk-play touchdowns put the Knights up 21-7 early in the second quarter. A fumble on the very next series gave the ball back to the Knights at the Prairie Wolves' 33-yard line. Wartburg pushed another one across the goal line. The Prairie Wolves went into the locker room trailing 49-7.
Wartburg got the ball to start the second half and needed only seven plays to get on the board. A couple of drives later, Joey McLaughlin caught five passes on an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, which he capped with a 2-yard touchdown reception. Winkler kicked his second extra point of the day to make it 56-14.
The Prairie Wolves' offensive output began to fall off. Four straight turnovers followed, before a 33-yard touchdown pass from Carroll to Lee on the final Prairie Wolves possession, while the Knights scored two more times in the second half.
UP NEXT
The Prairie Wolves will travel to the University of Dubuque next Saturday, Oct. 10, for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
