For GU, it was their first Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) win as they improved to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the HAAC. Peru State fell to 1-3 overall and in the HAAC.

First Half Action

At the end of the first quarter, it was tied at 7-7. Graceland did get on the board first with a touchdown pass with 8:20 to go.

On the Bobcats' third possession of the game that started on their own 20-yard line, Zach Gewinner (Weeping Water) took the hand-off and went 64 yards down to the YellowJackets' 16-yard line. The very next play resulted in a touchdown as Antonio Turner (Jasper, Fla.) took it to the endzone. Levi Cockle's (Lincoln) PAT was good knotting the game with 2:43 left in the first stanza.

In the second quarter, the Bobcat quarterback was sacked and lost the ball resulting in a second Graceland score on the fumble recovery of eight yards with 7:40 left in the half. This gave GU the 14-7 lead which would stand at halftime.

Second Half Action

It was another tough third quarter for the Bobcats which reminded fans of last week's loss to Benedictine. Graceland grabbed an interception and took it back for a 45-yard touchdown on just the second play of the second half. The YellowJackets went up 21-7 with 14:22 to go in the third.

Another Bobcat miscue gave Graceland their second score of the half as the fumble recovery went nine yards for a score. With just under three minutes off the clock in the second half, Graceland had jumped to a 28-7 lead.

The third error by Peru State in the third quarter did not result in an immediate touchdown; however, Graceland did put together a six-play, 35-yard drive after the Bobcat fumble, for their third score of the quarter. With 8:33 to go in the third, Graceland was up 35-7.

Later in the third quarter, Graceland tacked on a 36-yard field goal with 1:13 to go to take a 38-7 lead into the final stanza.

The Bobcats did put together a nine-play, 69-yard drive in the fourth quarter to cut the score to 38-13. Ryan Ludlow (Plattsmouth) took the ball in from the one-yard line with 9:59 to go. The PAT was no good.

The YellowJackets intercepted another Bobcat pass in the fourth quarter, which resulted in an 81-yard touchdown pass at the 7:22 mark. With the point after, the score was now 45-13 Graceland.

Statistics

The Bobcats actually had more first downs than Graceland 23-20. Total yardage was in favor of the YellowJackets as they had 126 yards on the ground to go with 308 through the air for 434 total yards. PSC had 67 total yards rushing and 226 yards passing for 293 total yards.

Graceland benefited from the six Bobcat turnovers while PSC did recover one YellowJacket fumble and intercepted GU once. Peru State only committed two penalties for 30 yards while Graceland racked up 120 yards of penalties on 16 flags.

Gewinner and Turner had 77 yards and 21 yards respectively. Gewinner's yardage came on ten carries while Turner carried the ball seven times and got one of the PSC scores. Ludlow had just four yards, but did have the first Bobcat score.

Tyler Francis (Lincoln) was 22 of 47 for 226 yards, but gave up two interceptions. Cole Gottula (Franklin) was Francis' favorite target as he had seven receptions for 79 yards. Joel Woodhead (North Platte) had five grabs for 49 yards. Preston Bruss (Bennet) and Jake Mertens (Hastings) led the team defensively with 12 and nine tackles respectively.


Both Bruss and Mertens had three solo tackles with Mertens' having one tackle for a loss. Adrian Lawson (Lincoln) and Trey Rigby (Oak Grove, Mo.) each had four solo tackles. Lawson added three assisted tackles while Rigby's hard hit led to Mertens' fumble recovery. Wade Halvorsen (Ravenna) was in on eight assisted tackles with Sydney Shepler (DeWitt) picking off the lone Bobcat interception.

Post-Game Comments

Mertens was chosen as the KNCY Player of the Game for his defensive efforts. Obviously disappointed by the loss, Mertens noted the defense made some improvements. Mertens noted, “The defense did do some better things today, but unfortunately we had too many turnovers.” On his fumble recovery, Mertens added, “Trey (Rigby) had a great hit on the guy and just laid him out and I was able to jump on the ball.” Mertens concluded, “We will get over this game and get focused on Trinity for next week.”

Bobcat head coach Terry Clark echoed Mertens' comments regarding next week's game. Clark said in his post-game interview, “We intend to get over this game quickly and start practice on Monday. We have not seen much film on Trinity, but know they beat Haskell early and have had some success.” Clark did note, “This tough conference makes it tough to come back when you make that many mistakes. The NFL actually did a study several years ago and it showed that if a defense scores on your team, your chances of winning drop off significantly.”

Game Box Score

Next Action

The Bobcats will be on the road again next week as they travel to Ellendale, N.D., to take on the Trinity Bible College Lions. Presently, the Lions are 2-2 and were to have played Dakota College at Bottineau on Saturday. Trinity opened the season with a 42-35 win over Haskell Indian Nations University, a former Bobcat foe. They came back with a 39-13 victory over Presentation College before losing their next two to Mayville State 65-6 and Waldorf College, another Bobcat former opponent, 30-20.