Orange City, Iowa — Northwestern College delighted fans with explosive plays in its 50-16 win on senior day played this afternoon at DeValois Stadium / Korver Field. The Raiders improve to 1-1 this season, DWU slips to 0-2.
The dynamic Raider offense utilized many of its weapons, scoring four touchdowns from 70+ yards and a fifth from 32-yards out against the Tigers defense. Tyson Kooima hooked up with Cade Moser for touchdown passes from 73 and 70 yards, connected with Shane Solberg for a 91-yard score and Logan Meyer reached paydirt on a 73-yard run for his first touchdown as a Raider. Added to the list of big plays is a Blake Fryar to Canon Flores 32-yard touchdown connection and another Fryar pass to Blake Anderson for 51 yards and was tackled just shy of the goalline.
Northwestern’s offense amassed nearly 600 yards for the second consecutive game, totaling 598 (225 rush, 373 pass), and rested many of its starters in the second half. Kooima threw for 272 yards and four touchdowns on just eight completions (8/14) while Fryar threw for a career-best 101 yards and a touchdown.
The duo of Solberg (4 catches, 112 yards, 2 TD) and Moser (3 catches, 151 yards, 2 TD) continued to showcase their play-making abilities. Solberg has now gone over 100 yards receiving in six straight games, 16 for his career; Moser is now at six games with 100 yards receiving for his career.
Eli Stader, the Raiders freshman kicker, began the scoring with a 37-yard field goal on his team’s opening possession. Following a DWU punt, Northwestern needed just two plays to go 80 yards, finished off with a Kooima-to-Moser 73-yard pass, and take a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Raider linebacker Mitch Rentschler stopped DWU on fourth down, giving his offense the ball back at the Northwestern 27-yard line. Another two plays later, Kooima and Moser hooked up for the second time, a 70-yard touchdown pass and a 16-0 lead. Following the second Tigers three-and-out on offense, Kooima found Solberg for a 91-yard touchdown pass and 22-0 lead. A short kickoff into the wind was recovered by Northwestern and the Raiders capped an 8-play, 37-yard drive with a Kooima to Solberg 14-yard pass for score and a 29-0 halftime lead.
Dakota Wesleyan put its first points on the board with a 27-yard, Tate Gale field goal, with 7:23 left in the third quarter. Following the kickoff, Logan Meyer raced up the middle for a 73-yard touchdown run on the very first play to put Northwestern in front 36-3. Dakota Wesleyan scored its first touchdown with 2:51 left in the third when Zachary Lester found Spencer Neugebauer in the corner of the endzone for a 12-yard touchdown pass.
Leading 36-10 early in the fourth, Northwestern scored on two of its final three drives. Fryar found Canon Flores for a 32-yard strike and Drake Brezina scored off a one-yard run, set up by a long completion from Fryar to Anderson. Dakota Wesleyan added a late score to put the final at 50-16.
Linebackers Tanner Oleson and Trevor Rozeboom had career-highs in tackles, both with 10 stops. Noah Van’t Hof (7 tackles) and Parker Fryar (6 tackles, 1 for loss) were the other statistical leaders on defense.
Garrett Packer rushed 11 times for 63 yards and Konner McQuillan accounted for 22 yards on four carries.
Lester led DWU, completing 18-of-30 passes for 173 yards and a score.
