The Wayne State College football team suffered their second loss of the season to the Sioux Falls Cougars 23-13 on Saturday, Oct. 26, after scoring on only one of four red zone trips.
This game was set on a huge stage, as the winner was to be set up in an advantageous position to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The win sends USF to a 7-2 record and a 6-2 record in conference play. WSC falls to 6-2 and 5-2 in conference play with the loss
The Cougars opened the contest with the football and wasted no time driving down the field and earning some points. A drive led by Camden Dean, both with his arm and his legs, was capped off by a 20- yard rushing touchdown by Carlson Tann to give Sioux Falls a 6-0 lead after a failed two-point conversion.
After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on WSC forced a Wildcat three and out, the Cougars extended their lead on their very next drive. Dean found his favorite target Carter Slykhuis on a short route, and Slykhuis danced through defenders into the endzone to make the Cougar lead 13-0.
WSC immediately cut into the lead on a two-play, 77-yard drive that only took 45 seconds. Wildcat quarterback Nick Bohn found running back Latravious Boyd on a wheel route, to which Boyd proceed to outrace every Cougar defender that crossed his path to cut the lead to 13-7, a lead that Sioux Falls took to the end of the first quarter.
The Wildcat defense forced a punt, but this was the start of several unfortunate mistakes for the home team. On the first play of the second quarter, Bohn tried to take a shot down to field to Jadon Johnson, but the wind played a factor in the pass falling short and being intercepted by a Cougar defender.
The ensuing drive for USF lasted 6:03 and took ten plays and saw the Cougar offense traverse 81 yards. The Dean to Slykhuis connection worked again for the touchdown, bringing the lead back to 13 points by a score of 20-7.
Bohn threw yet another pick trying to throw the football away on the next possession, to which USF turned into more points. They had to settle for a field goal, but the lead was now 23-7, which the Cougars took into halftime.
The second half saw WSC ramp up the defensive intensity, holding the USF offense to only 12 yards of offense in the second half and saw the Wildcats as a whole control the field position battle. This included three back-to-back-to-back drives where the Cougars started the possession at there own one-yard line, and another where they started at their own five yards line.
The Wildcat offense saw four trips into the redzone in the second half, to only one of which saw WSC come away with points. The first three trips all stalled inside the USF 15-yard line and all saw failed fourth down conversions for the Wildcats.
With 2:09 left, Bohn finally came through for WSC, finding Ashten Schmaderer in the endzone to give the Wildcats some life. The following two-point conversion was failed, and the scoreboard read 23-13 in favor of Sioux Falls. After the Cougars recovered the onside kick, a first down run by Dean sealed the win for USF.
The Wildcats will compete in their final road game of the year on Saturday, Nov. 2 against the Bemidji State Beavers. Kickoff is set for 1.p.m. at Chet Anderson Stadum in Bemidji, Minnesota.
