22 Augustana scored on their first three possessions of the game and never trailed in defeating 23rd-ranked Wayne State College 32-24 in a Northern Sun Conference football South Division battle played Saturday afternoon at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. The visiting Vikings improve to 6-1 and 2-1 in the NSIC South while WSC drops to 5-2 and 2-1 in divisional play.
The visiting Vikings opened the scoring when quarterback Kyle Saddler connected with Sean Engel on a 31-yard scoring strike, putting Augustana in front 7-0 at the 9:19 mark of the first quarter.
The Wildcats answered with a field goal on their next series as Alex Powders booted a 25-yard field goal that capped a 17-play, 60-yard drive to cut the Viking lead to 7-3.
Saddler and Engel teamed up again for another Augustana score early in the second quarter, this time from 20 yards out, that gave the Vikings a 14-3 lead.
The Vikings took a 17-3 advantage at the 9:14 mark on a Ben Limburg 43-yard field goal.
Wayne State closed the first half scoring when senior running back Anthony Watkins found the end zone on a four-yard run that closed an 11-play, 72 yard drive, making the score 17-10 at intermission.
Augustana opened the second half scoring a field goal, a 25-yarder from Limburg, to increase their cushion to 20-10 and added another score midway through the quarter on a 40-yard scoring pass from Saddler to Devon Jones to go in front 26-10.
Wayne State responded less than one minute later as redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Bohn fired a 48-yard pass to Mason Lee for a touchdown, reducing the Viking lead to 26-17 entering the fourth quarter.
But the Vikings scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to go back in front by two scores as Jones and Saddler connected again from 18 yards out giving the Vikings a 32-17 lead.
The Wildcats produced the final points of the contest with 4:23 to play when Lee made a leaping touchdown reception of seven yards from Bohn to make the final score 32-24.
Augustana outgained WSC in the contest 530-364. The Vikings had 198 yards rushing and 332 passing compared to 139 rushing and 225 passing by the Wildcats.
Bohn was the top rusher for the Wildcats with 77 yards on 17 attempts followed by Watkins with 41 yards on 10 carries and one score.
Bohn completed 17 of 32 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Trystn Ducker had a team-high seven catches for 54 yards followed by Lee with four receptions for 70 yards and two TD’s.
Defensively, junior linebacker Nicholas Joynt paced Wayne State with 11 tackles followed by Alex Kowalczyk and Mike Monette with six stops each.
The Wildcats will be on the road next Saturday visiting Southwest Minnesota State in an NSIC South Division contest in Marshall, Minnesota at 5 p.m.
