College football Iowa Wesleyan battles to the end in North Star loss

The odds were against the Iowa Wesleyan University football team Saturday afternoon at Bracewell Stadium, but the Tigers fought until the end.

Waldorf University spoiled Iowa Wesleyan's Senior Day with a 42-14 North Star Athletic Association win.

"They have a good team," Iowa Wesleyan head coach MD Daniels said of Waldorf. "They're probably one of the most physical teams that we've seen this year. They're more physical than Dickinson and more physical than Valley City. We weren't ready for that physicality and that showed today."

Dickinson State (6-2, 6-0) and Valley City State (8-2, 6-2) are the top two teams in the North Star. Waldorf improved to 7-2 (5-2), clinging to third place. Iowa Wesleyan (2-8, 1-4) is fifth in the seven-team league.

"The biggest thing with our guys is that I'm proud that we didn't stop fighting," Daniels said. "No matter what's stacked up against us, no matter what the odds were, we kept fighting, When you have a team that doesn't stop fighting, you have something there."

Waldorf scored on its first drive, a six-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard TD pass from Jordan Cooper to Malik Adams with 12:39 left in the first quarter. Slater Gifford's kick made it 7-0 and the Warriors never trailed.

It was the first of six extra point kicks for Gifford, a senior from West Burlington. He attempted a 39-yard field goal in the second quarter, but it strayed wide to the left.

Iowa Wesleyan possessed the ball nine minutes longer than Waldorf, but couldn't breach the end zone until the fourth quarter.

Trailing 35-0, Gavin Esquivel threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kelan Dove with 11:30 left in the game. Five minutes later, Esquivel again found Dove open, this time for nine yards, for the Tigers' second touchdown.

Esquivel, who has twice this season been the North Star player of the week, completed 16 of 34 passes for 207 yards and the two touchdowns. He was intercepted once, but shouldn't have been. He threw to the hands of his receiver, who bobbled it into the hands of Waldorf's Isaiah Brown.

Waldorf's physicality limited the Tiger ground game. Iowa Wesleyan gained 124 yards on 25 carries. Kam Cole came off the Tiger bench to lead Iowa Wesleyan runners with 78 yards on 13 carries.

Waldorf double threat quarterback Cooper stole the show. He completed 15 of 20 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown and gained another 82 yards on five carries. That included a 55-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw in the second quarter that gave the Warriors a 21-0 lead.

Jaheem Hampton led the Iowa Wesleyan defense with seven tackles, four of them solos. Chance Colby, a sophomore linebacker from Columbus Junction, finished with five solos and an assist.

Waldorf sophomore Christian Gerot, a former Winfield-Mount Union High School player, appeared to score on a six-yard run late in the game, but the play was nullified on a Warrior holding penalty. Gerot finished with 10 yards on three carries. Former Central Lee player Tyler Hopp, a junior linebacker, finished with four solo tackles and an assist for Waldorf.

Daniels saw a friendly face across the field, if not a friendly score.

Waldorf head coach Will Finley is "a great guy," Daniels said. "He's really getting that program turned around. I know Waldorf really hasn't had a history of success, but his second year here this is their seventh win and they won seven last year under him. He's going the right way and he's helped me out a lot as a coach. My first year he helped me with the recruiting trail, how to manage the team, how to get guys ready to play in the North Star. So he's been a really good help to me.

"When I first got hired" at Iowa Wesleyan, Daniels said, Finley "reached out to me to tell me 'Congratulations' and if I ever need anything he was there. And so after that I just started reaching out to him. We started working together, working camps together. I visited Waldorf this summer and we talked football and stuff like that. So he's someone I know I can lean on anytime. He's just been a good friend."

The Tigers end the season Satursay with a North Star game at Mayville State (1-9, 1-6) in Mayville, North Dakota.

"All we have to do is take care of our business," Daniels said. "Everything I've told the guys is it's not what they do, it's what we do. What we're not doing to win the game, what we're not doing to move the ball, what we're not doing to stop them. It's always on us.

"Mayville is an aggressive team, much like Waldorf," Daniels said, "but they play a lot of man coverage. They have some really good receivers. So me being a DB coach our work is cut out for us next week. Hopefully it doesn't snow too bad, but we're hoping to have a good game.

"I looked at the news and it said snow Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so I'm not looking forward to that," Daniels said.

"No matter what the conditions are, rain, sleet, snow, we still have to play football."

WALDORF. IWU

First downs. 22. 18

Rushes-yards 30-232. 25-124

Passing yards 144. 207

Comp-Att-Int. 16-21-0. 16-36-1

Total offense. 376. 331

Fumbles-lost. 0-0. 0-0

Punts-average. 3-35. 4-33

Penalties-yards. 6-59. 7-50

3rd Down Efficiency. 4-9. 5-13

4th Down Efficiency. 0-0. 2-4

Time of possession. 30:02. 39:44

Scoring by quarters

Waldorf 7 14 14 7 — 42

Iowa Wesleyan 0 0 0 12 — 12

Scoring

Waldorf—Malik Adams, 28 pass from Jordan Cooper (Slater Gifford kick)

Waldorf—JJ Harrell, 7 run (Gifford kick)

Waldorf—Cooper, 55 run (Gifford kick)

Waldorf—Tahj Snow, 1 run (Gifford kick)

Waldorf—Cooper, 23 run (Gifford kick)

Iowa Wesleyan—Kelan Dove, 10 pass from Gavin Esquivel (Kick failed)

Iowa Wesleyan—Dove, 9 pass from Esquivel (Run failed)

Waldorf—Dominick Watt, 16 pass from Luke Johnson (Gifford kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Waldorf — Cooper 5-82, Snow 7-50, Harrell 8-41, Taye Buchanan 5-33, Seth Oakes 2-16, Christian Gerot 3-10. Iowa Wesleyan — Kam Cole 13-78, Hezekiah Hunter 9-31, Jordan Nevarez 1-13, Esquivel 2-2.

PASSING: Waldorf — Cooper 15-20-0-128, Johnson 1-1-0-16. Iowa Wesleyan — Esquivel 16-34-1-207, Hagen Weaver 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING: Waldorf — Watt 8-69, Adams 3-34, Zach Morel 1-19, Treyvon Brinson 3-11, Buchanan 1-11. Iowa Wesleyan — Jaden Harris 4-68, Dove 4-39, Damian Tanelus 2-38, Dimitri Rodriguez 2-34, Tony Brooks 1-16.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Iowa Wesleyan falls behind big, but rally comes up short in home finale