Statesmen Drop Avila for Homecoming ‘W’
William Penn’s Nate Van Veldhuizen is off to the races against Avila on Saturday.
Oskaloosa–Aaron Osborne (Sr., Houston, Texas, Physical Education) and Nate Van Veldhuizen (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) each rushed for over 150 yards as the William Penn football team defeated Heart of America Athletic Conference South Division foe Avila (Mo.) 51-29 for Homecoming Saturday.
The 19th-ranked Statesmen cruised at times en route to nearly breaking records for rushing yards (579) and total yards (660).
WPU rolled to a 27-0 lead (20-0 after the first quarter), beginning with the biggest pass play of the afternoon as Tyler Hafner (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Communications) and Jatavius Stewart (Sr., Rock Hill, S.C., Biology) hooked up on a 57-yard touchdown just 1:41 after the opening kickoff.
Hunter Condit (Fr., Perry, Okla., Physical Education) then plunged in from one yard out on the next drive and Osborne finished off a terrific opening quarter with a 38-yard scamper on the home team’s third possession.
Osborne, who ended the contest with 152 yards on just seven carries, broke free once again in the early moments of the second period–this time for 64 yards as the Statesmen were in full control.
The Eagles (1-5) finally got on the board with a touchdown, but WPU answered with a 37-yard field goal by Samson Tamijani (Fr., Houston, Texas, Digital Communication) to lead 30-7 going into the locker room.
Hafner scored on his squad’s first attempt of the second half to extend the lead to a game-high 30 points at 37-7. Unfortunately, Avila had been building momentum in the second quarter and figured out the Statesmen puzzle in the third and put up 22 straight points to make a game out of it. The visitors passed for 344 yards and finished with 506 overall; they also had recorded the first two turnovers to that point.
The rally finally caught William Penn’s attention and the remainder of regulation belonged to the home program. Hunter Collins (Sr., Jenks, Okla., Mechanical Engineering) found paydirt from two yards away and Van Veldhuizen outran the entire Avila defense for an 83-yard TD to cap the scoring. The freshman’s day ended with him leading all players with 154 yards on 14 rushes.
Nathan Tvedt (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) (78 yards), Condit (61), Collins (57), and Carl Sivels (Fr., Washington, Iowa, Physical Education) (51) also picked up big yardage on the ground. Hafner had 27 rushing yards in addition to 81 passing on four completions; Stewart had two grabs for 71 yards.
Defensively, WPU finished strong with back-to-back interceptions on the Eagles’ last two drives. Mason Rohr (So., Nixa, Mo., Biology) and Walter Eastwood (Jr., Garden City, Mo., Computer Science) came up with the picks, both of which were inside William Penn’s 10-yard line.
Isaac Samek (Sr., Bolivar, Mo., Industrial Technology) guided the unit with 14 tackles, while his colleagues also sacked AU’s quarterback twice.
Next: William Penn takes a week off before opening up Heart North Division play by traveling to Peru, Neb. on October 17 to face Peru State at 11 a.m. The game is the first of two nationally-televised games for the Statesmen this fall.
