Statesmen Defense Dominates in Win at Graceland
Lamoni — A very strong showing by the William Penn University football team, despite a couple of injuries, saw them take down Graceland on the road. Suffocating the Yellowjackets on defense for most of the game, the option game was running on all cylinders as well for the Statesmen, who won 33-6. The Statesmen are now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference North division play.
The first half saw the Statesmen defense lockdown the Yellowjackets, as they barely were able to pick up any positive yardage. They forced a quick three-and-out to get the ball to the offense and they would repeat that feat time and time again in the first two quarters.
With Alex Crehan, (Sr., Troy, Ill., Business Management) injured, Jace Neugebauer (Sr., McArthur, Calif., Business Management) took the helm of the offense for the first time ever as a member of the team. The offense gave Chauncey Andrews (Fr., Tulsa, Okla., Psychology) the first few looks before Neugebauer took a run for ten yards. Andrews then blasted away for a 17-yard run down to the GU 11-yard line. After a false start, Andrews found the hole and ran it 16 yards for the score, putting WPU up 6-0, with the PAT missing wide.
The defense again kept Graceland bottled up as Rogan Pforts (Sr., Wapello, Iowa) and Jaden Curtis (So., Glendale, Ariz., Digital Communication) collected a combo-sack. After the punt, the Statesmen drive started right at midfield. Unable to get a conversion on a fourth and five, the first quarter would come to a close with Graceland getting the ball back.
Again, the defense would hold the line as over the course of the first half, the defense held Graceland to negative yardage. The next Statesmen drive started on their own 20-yard line and Andrews and Rives Grogan (So., Mansfield, Texas, Political Science) combined for the yardage, with a 36-yard run by Grogan the highlight. After a couple plays inside the GU 10-yard line, Neugebauer took it himself into the endzone. Now up 13-0, the Statesmen recovered an onside kick by Tyler Hefflefinger (Fr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Business Management) to get the ball back. Inside enemy territory, Charles got a gain of 16 yards before Grogan ran three times in a row to get in down to the four-yard line. Neugebauer collected his second TD of the game on the two-yard plunge to put the navy and gold up 20-0.
Both teams did not gain much on their next drives respectively, and the Yellowjackets got the ball back with a little time left on the clock. After a couple incomplete passes, Brandon Young connected with Jalan Gilliland for a 14-yard score to make it 20-6 at the break.
That would be all the score the home side would produce as they would struggle to go forward in the second half, netting only 77 total yards on 46 plays to end the day. William Penn was not done though as they scored once more in each quarter.
The third quarter drive started on the 49-yard line and it was a heavy dose of Grogan, who picked up 15 yards on the first three carries. Then Charles and Neugebauer each took a run before Grogan ended the drive with three straight runs. Gaining three and then two yards, Grogan, broke through on the next attempt as he struck for 19 yards on second and six to make it 26-6, with the PAT making it 27-6.
The last scoring drive started on the WPU 23-yard line and after Grogan and Charles got it close to midfield, Brenden Phillips (So., Altus, Okla., Biology) took over the job. He was fed four times with Connor Hasz (Fr., Paola, Kan., Sociology) getting two carries. Phillips would bounce it home for his first ever TD from the one-yard line to put the score line at 33-6. WPU got one more drive but could not get a score as the defense stuffed the Yellowjackets on their final two drives.
The defense was big for the Statesmen all game long. Leading the way with seven total tackles was Kenny Alexandre (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y., Sports Management) while Turner Ellis (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa, Secondary Education) and Gary Carter (Sr., Crosby, Texas, Biology) led the squad with three total tackles. Carter picked up the only solo sack of the game. The Statesmen had 55 total tackles and 14 tackles for a loss, which set the Yellowjackets back 36 yards.
Grogan led the way with 181 yards on 20 attempts, averaging 9.1 yards a carry. Andrews had 78 yards on 13 attempts while Neugebauer had 28 yards on 10 carriers and two touchdowns. Phillips had 39 yards on nine carriers while Neugebauer did not attempt a pass.
“No matter if it’s sloppy or perfect, we are always going to celebrate great victories,” said Head Coach Todd Hafner. “It is very hard to win in this conference and anytime we get a win, we should be extremely excited about that. And we are. We were sloppy at times, we were perfect at other times, but in the end, all that mattered was that we played great as a team. We battle together and we played good, tough, hardnose football. I love this team for their attitude and their camaraderie. Because of that, I really think there are more wins to come.”
Next Up: The Rock and Ladder trophy will return to Oskaloosa with current holders Grand View rolling in for a noon showdown next Saturday, October 24.
