JaMaine Lewis rushed for 261 yards and four touchdowns and the Bulldog s held off a late Dakota Wesleyan rally as Concordia University defeated DWU 31-24 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference football game under beautiful conditions on Saturday (Oct. 20) at Joe Quintal Field in Mitchell, S.D. The Bulldogs improve to 4-4 while DWU dropped its sixth straight to fall to 1-6. After trailing 31-10, the Tigers made a fierce comeback and scored 14 fourth quarter points to pull within seven points. Concordia was able to convert three first downs in the final four minutes of the game to seal the victory for the Bulldogs.
Jon Doom hit the second of his three TD passes on a 39-yard pass to Bubba Slaba on the first play of a Tiger drive in the fourth quarter to pull DWU within two TDs. Freshman Jordan Gau then intercepted a Bulldog pass and returned it 48 yards to the Concordia six yard line. Doom brought the Tigers within seven points as he found Rudy Niewenhuis for an 11 yard TD reception.
The third quarter was the story of the game as Concordia rushed for 185 yards and the DWU offense managed just three total yards of offense in the quarter. The Bulldogs scored two TDs and opened up the 17-10 lead.
DWU got on the board first early as the Tigers took advantage of a short field as they recovered a Bulldog fumble at the 44 yard line. Doom capped the drive with a 13 yard TD completion to Jesse Ayers to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 10:51 to play in the first quarter.
Lewis then scored on TD runs of 3 and 39 yards and Michael Saalfeld connected on a 34-yard field goal to put the Bulldogs up 17-7.
The Tigers had a great opportunity late in the second quarter after Concordia quarterback Kyle Schmidt fumbled at his own three yard line to give the Tigers the ball 1st & goal at the 3-yard line. However DWU was out of timeouts so they were unable to run the ball and three incomplete passes force DWU to settle for a 20 yard Sergio Leon field goal.
Dakota Wesleyan finished with just 157 yards of total offense, averaging 2.5 yards per play. The Tigers had 74 rushing yards and threw for 83. Wide receiver Jesse Ayers led the DWU rushing attack with 34 yards on seven carries.
Jon Doom struggled through the air going 7-23 for 83 yards with an interception, but the sophomore signal-caller did have three TDs. Bubba Slaba led the DWU receivers with two catches for 44 yards with a TD.
Tiger linebackers Daniel Wysong and Lucas Sieve led the DWU defense with 16 tackles apiece. Wysong had 2.5 tackles for loss with a QB sack, while Sieve had 2.0 TFLs, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. Nick Tolsma also was a star for DWU punting nine times for and average of 46.0, placing four inside the 20 with a long of 66.
JaMaine Lewis was the story of the game rushing 31 times for 261 yards with four TDs. Jeff Neujahr added 97 yards on the ground.
Concordia quarterback Kyle Schmidt had a rough day going 1-13 for -3 yards with an interception. The only positive pass completion was by Brett Mertens on a fake punt for a 28 yard completion to give the Bulldogs a first down.
*Story Courtesy of Alex Linden, Dakota Wesleyan Sports Information Director