William Penn Drops Game to Grand View in Season Finale
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Des Moines–The Statesmen football team concluded their season on Saturday with still a lot to play for as they would take on the rival Grand View Vikings and attempt to keep the rock and ladder trophy in Oskaloosa for the second consecutive year.
Unfortunately, WPU (4-7, 2-3 Heart) would fall short to Grand View (8-2, 4-1 Heart) in a closely contested battle 23-20.
The Vikings outgained the Statesmen in total yards 402-223.
William Penn lead for a majority of the game until Grand View put up a big third quarter scoring 20 points and proved to be too much for the Statesmen to overcome.
GVU got on the board first hitting a 33 yard field goal at the 10 minute mark to take a 3-0 lead but the Statesmen would respond on the very next drive when Tyler Wood (Jr., Newton, Iowa, Education) connected with Grant Smallwood (Sr., Wichita, Kan., Sports Management) on a 62 yard pass resulting in a touchdown to put the navy and gold up 7-3.
The score would remain there until the third quarter. After a quick three and out, the Vikings would march down the field on their first drive of the half and put a touchdown on the board to put the home team up 9-7 after the missed PAT. WPU would once again respond when Wood took a QB keeper 56 yards to the house giving the Statesmen a 13-9 lead. The visiting defense wouldn’t be able to stop the Viking offense however as the home team would finish the quarter with two scores to put them up 23-13.
William Penn wouldn’t go quietly. On the first play on the fourth quarter, Anthony Jackson (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Sports Management) recovered a fumble and the Statesmen were able to capitalize by scoring a touchdown on a Ben Sherman (So., Troy, Pa., Elementary Education) run to cut into the deficit to 23-20. The Statesmen would have one more shot late in the fourth, but it would not come to fruition as the Vikings would intercept a pass from Wood to ice the game.
Wood finished the game leading William Penn in total yards with 182 while Smallwood finished with 62 receiving yards to pace the team in that category.
On the defensive side, Jace Neugebauer (So., McArthur, Calif., Business Management) and Ray Watson (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn., Physical Education) combined for 10 tackles with five apiece. The navy and gold combined for four sacks with the biggest coming from Resean Coleman (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Exercise Science) for an eight-yard loss.
The Statesmen ended the season 4-7 overall and 2-3 in the Heart. Thank you to the seniors for their hard work and dedication to the program and best of luck in your future endeavors.
