Statesmen Give Great Effort, Scare South Dakota in 41-16 Loss

William Penn Football in their home opener 2014

William Penn Football in their home opener 2014

Vermillion, S.D.–For a regular season game, the spotlight may not shine much brighter than it did on Saturday afternoon for the William Penn football team, and for most of the contest the team was not fazed one bit as it provided a legitimate threat to South Dakota in a 41-16 non-conference setback.

While the final score may not look that impressive, the Statesmen (1-1) went toe-to-toe with its NCAA Division I FCS foe for over three quarters, trailing just 24-16 with ten minutes left on the clock.

In front of a crowd of 8,242 in the DakotaDome, it was actually the navy and gold who struck first. Beginning to be pushed back into its own territory, WPU came up with the first takeaway as Deshon Conley (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Physical Education) stripped the ball from the Coyote runningback. The senior picked up the pigskin and was off to the races, eventually being pulled down at USD’s ten-yard line. Conley finished with a team-best 12 tackles.

Four plays later on fourth-down-and-one, Taylor Parsons (Sr., The Woodlands, Texas, Sociology) finally got his team on the board. The extra point was blocked, but William Penn had done something that its 2009 version could not–it scored. The Statesmen were shut out 52-0 in the first-ever meeting between the programs.

The Coyotes (1-1) answered back to go up 7-6, but the visitors accepted the jab and offered one of their own, going 46 plays on seven plays. Ante Rogic (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Biology) capped off the drive with a 35-yard field goal to put WPU back ahead 9-7 after one stanza.

Unfortunately, the drive was not all roses as Parsons was injured on a 27-yard scamper and did not return. The signal-caller, who was permitted a medical redshirt from 2013 to play his senior season one more time, will be reassessed this week to determine the severity of the injury. Parsons finished with 57 rushing yards on five carries.

His departure was apparent, but did not put WPU proverbially six feet under as Evan Ressler (Sr., Cascade, Iowa, Biology) and crew stepped up. A passing game that is normally non-existent went to the back burner with the Statesmen collecting all 335 of their yards on the ground. Ressler led the way with 87 yards on 22 rushes.

The second quarter was fairly quiet with USD scoring the lone touchdown to take the lead for good at 14-9 going into intermission. William Penn moved into home territory in both of its drives, including getting to the 20 once before back-to-back incompletions turned the ball back to the Coyotes.

USD extended its advantage to 21-9 with a touchdown in its first second-half possession. The Statesmen nearly responded, marching all the way to the four-yard line, but they could not convert on third and fourth downs with just two yards to go and returned the ball again.

The hosts then came up with the longest drive of the day, going 82 yards, but only picked up three points with a field goal. Down just 15 points, nothing was lost to the visitors and they knew it, putting a little more fright into the squad that had played THE Oregon Ducks one week earlier.

Highlighted by a 22-yard run from Michael Thomas (Sr., Visalia, Calif., Undecided), WPU got back inside double digits when Thomas cleared the goal line from five yards out. Thomas contributed 50 yards on the ground.

Down 24-16 with exactly ten minutes to play, William Penn was right where it wanted to be and where few outside Statesmen Nation actually thought it could be. The dream ended fairly abruptly, however, as the Coyotes managed a quick field goal and then took advantage of two late WPU turnovers to tack on two more scores and put the game out of reach.

South Dakota finished with 468 yards.

Tyler Goble (So., Des Moines, Iowa, Secondary Education) added 46 rushing yards, while Nate Wilmes (Sr., Carlisle, Iowa, Sociology) had 38 and Jatavius Stewart (Jr., Rock Hill, S.C., Biology) posted 30. Sam Tvedt (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) saw limited action playing injured and finished with 17 yards. A total of 12 different players rushed the ball Saturday.

Second-string quarterback Tyler Hafner (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Undecided) managed the game well in Parsons’ absence, but unfortunately the numbers did not reflect his efforts (0-for-7 passing with two INTs, -15 rushing yards).

Caesar Harris (Sr., Memphis, Tenn., Sociology) joined fellow defensive back Conley with a forced turnover as he had a second-quarter interception. Scott Adams (Sr., Park City, Utah, Sociology) sacked the USD quarterback twice, while Greg Beatty (Sr., Brooklyn, Iowa, Industrial Technology) had one sack of his own.

“I thought our kids played fantastic today,” Head Coach Todd Hafner said. “We played with an outstanding amount of effort and energy; we just came up on the short end of the stick.”

“I am very proud of the way that we played and the way that we performed today,” Hafner added. “We represented William Penn very well.”

Next Up: William Penn travels to Fort Wayne, Ind. to face #6 St. Francis (Ind.) next Saturday at 11 a.m. (Central) in a Mid-States Football Association crossover game.

Posted by on Sep 8 2014. Filed under College Sports, Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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