Orange City, Iowa — Tyson Kooima accounted for four touchdowns and the Raider D registered four sacks in leading 11th-ranked Northwestern to a 47-7 win over Valley City State this afternoon on Korver Field at DeValois Stadium.
The Red Raiders (1-0) improve to 3-1 in season openers under head coach Matt McCarty and defeat VCSU for the second consecutive season.
Kooima threw for three touchdowns, to three different receivers, and ran for another in accounting for 313 yards of total offense. The junior completed 12-of-21 pass attempts for 220 yards, passing Jay McKinstrey for fifth place all-time in career passing yards (5,992). Kooima has now thrown for multiple touchdown passes in 16 career games.
Jacob Kalogonis rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown while catching three passes for 64 yards and a score. Kalogonis averaged nearly six yards per carry and recorded the 20th, 100-yard game of his career.
The Raider D was equally impressive, recording four quarterback sacks and limiting Valley City State to 323 yards of offense. Senior captain and four-year starter Tanner Machacek totaled five tackles and 1.5 sacks. Ryan Cougill, Tanner Oleson and Drake Brezina all had a career-best five tackles each with Cougill adding a sack. Shane Solberg nabbed his first career interception, the only turnover gained by the Raider D.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Northwestern erupted for 28 points over the next 15 minutes and took a 28-0 lead into halftime. Kooima connected with Cade Moser on a 41-yard touchdown pass with just two minutes gone by in the quarter. The Raider D forced a three-and-out and Northwestern’s offense marched down the field, 61 yards and six plays, capped by a Kooima nine-yard touchdown pass to Michael Storey in the corner of the endzone.
Another Vikings punt gave the ball back to the Red Raider offense where Kooima finished off a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a five-yard run with 3:30 left in the half. Northwestern capped the first half scoring when Shane Solberg intercepted a Vikings pass, returned it 93 yards before fumbling it into the endzone where Sean Powell recovered it for a touchdown.
Both teams were forced to punt on their first possessions of the second half. Taking over at their own 44-yard line, Northwestern made it 35-0 when Kalogonis scored on an 18-yard run to cap a three-play, 56-yard drive.
Northwestern scored its final touchdown early in the fourth on a Kooima to Kalogonis 45-yard pass for a 41-0 lead. Braxton Williams converted a pair of field goals, the second being a career-long 48-yarder, to complete the Red Raider scoring.
The Red Raiders totaled 23 first downs and 429 yards, 199 rush and 230 through the air. Cade Moser caught three passes for a career-best 91 yards and a score. Colin Snyder added a quarterback sack to go with four tackles.
Louis Quinones carried the ball 23 times for 184 yards and a touchdown to lead Valley City State. Jalen Pfeifer completed 11-of-27 passes for 125 yards. Andrew Hanretty led the defense with eight tackles and Dustin Kasowski added seven stops.
