The Wayne State football team lost to the University of Sioux Falls 41-21 Saturday afternoon in the last game of regular season. Wayne State ends the year 4-7 and 2-5 in conference play while USF moves on to 8-3 and 4-3 in conference play.

Sioux Falls outgained the Wildcats in total yards from scrimmage in the contest 420-297. The Wildcats had 138 yards rushing and 159 yards passing in the contest. The Wildcats also led the game in turnovers, committing five of them which led to 27 points for USF.

USF held a clear advantage in the time of possession 40:05 to 19:55. Both teams were successful with third down conversions with USF going 12 of 18 and WSC going 6 of 11. WSC had five sacks for 36 yards.

“We did a lot of things right even thought the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times and they capitalized off those mistakes.” said senior Ian Ailts.

Offensively the Wildcats were led by freshman running back Devin Merkuris with his fourth 100-yard game of the season, running for 120 yards on 17 carries and cored on a 63-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Quarterback Andy McCance was 8 of 17 for 159 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Taurean Grady led Wayne State with three catches for 59 yards and one score while Mason Lee has two receptions for 80 yards and one score.

Defensively, senior linebacker Tyler Thomsen had a game-high of 11 tackles with two tackles for loss. Ailts had 8 total tackles with one forced fumble. Freshman Trey Alberts had a 37-yard interception along with six tackles.

“This is a fairly young team returning a lot of depth next year. We may not have ended this year the way we wanted to but hopefully it sets the tone for years to come.” said Thomsen.