Statesmen Swat Yellowjackets: William Penn Defeats Graceland for Ninth Win of Season
OSKALOOSA — The William Penn Statesmen football team defeated the Graceland Yellowjackets 59-20 at home Saturday in Heart of America Athletic Conference North Division play.
The 17th-ranked Statesmen (9-1, 4-1 Heart North) outgained the Yellowjackets (3-6, 1-5 Heart North) by a 537-470 margin to secure the victory on Senior Day.
William Penn opened the game by driving deep into Graceland territory before settling for a 29-yard field goal from Aiden Gibbons (Fr., Apollo Beach, Fla., Sports Management) to take a 3-0 lead; a lead the navy and gold never relinquished.
The next Statesmen possession started at their own 19-yard line. It put together a 10-play drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run on fourth down by Sterling Ramsey II (Sr., Broken Arrow, Okla., Business Management), pushing the lead to 10-0.
Ramsey found success through the air on the following drive, completing two passes before connecting with Fabian Early III (Fr., Humble, Texas, Business Management) for a 9-yard touchdown to extend the advantage to 17-0.
Ramsey finished with a stellar day through the air, completing 13 of 21 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 26 rushing yards and another score on the ground.
Graceland advanced the ball to the William Penn 9-yard line before Kameron Cummings (So., Houston, Texas, Business Management) stopped a fourth-down run in the backfield. Cummings recorded seven tackles, two tackles for loss, and a pass breakup.
The Statesmen added to their lead after a successful fake punt by Rafael Irizarry (Sr., Cypress, Texas, Engineering Technology). Ramsey then connected with Amir Everett (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn., Sports Management) for an 80-yard touchdown strike.
After a long kick return, Graceland took over in William Penn territory until Tierre Butler (Jr., Springfield, Ill., Business Management) picked off a pass and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown. It was Butler’s second interception of the year.
The next few drives came up empty for both squads and William Penn led Graceland 31-0 at the end of the first half.
The Yellowjackets found success on its first drive of the second half and scored its first touchdown of the contest.
In response, 5:26 was drained from the clock in a Statesmen drive that went for 81 yards and ended with a 10-yard run by Loring to make it 38-7.
Graceland scored again on the ensuing drive and recovered its following onside kick.
The Yellowjackets answered with another score and recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the Statesmen defense came up with a fourth-down stop when by Marquis Harry (So., Pompano Beach, Fla.,) Business Management) had a tackle for loss.
William Penn took over at the 50 yard-line. The offense moved the ball down field until Loring scored from three yards out to extend the Statesmen lead to 45-14.
Destynd Loring had another strong day on the ground, rushing 26 times for 267 yards and three touchdowns.
Following another stop by the Statesmen defense, Ramsey found Everett again, this time for a 66-yard touchdown.
The catch pushed Amir Everett to a record-breaking performance of 260 receiving yards on the day. The previous school record for receiving yards in a game was set by Trey Mosley; Mosley did so in 2023 with 205 yards.
Everett also finished the day with seven catches and had two touchdowns
Graceland’s offense came up short of fourth-down again on its next drive and gave the ball to William Penn at the Statesmen 48 yard-line.
The Yellowjackets attempted nine fourth down conversion and succeeded on five while the Statesmen went 2-for-3.
Destynd Loring was handed the ball four plays in a row, the last of which he punched in from five yards out to score the final points of the day for William Penn as it extended the lead to 59-14.
In the waning minutes Graceland found the endzone for the final score of the contest brought the score to 59-20.
Defensively, Omari Campbell (Jr., Pompano Beach, Fla., Sports Management) led William Penn with 11 tackles, while Cummings and Butler each had seven. Brian Weatherspoon (Jr., West Memphis, Ark., Business Management) ended the day with six and Willie Page (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management) had five.
Lloydarius Garner (Jr., Houston, Texas, Sports Management) had the lone sack for the navy and gold.
I’m so proud of our players and specifically our seniors for what they’ve been able to do so far this year and what they were able to accomplish today.” Head Coach Marc Benavidez said, “The biggest game of the year is up ahead!”
