Six-time reigning GPAC football champion Morningside rolled to a 62-23 victory against previously unbeaten Dordt in Saturday’s league opener at Elwood Olsen Stadium.
The Mustangs, ranked fourth nationally in the NAIA, rolled up 672 yards total offense en route to their fourth straight victory to open the campaign.
Dordt, which was off to its second 2-0 start in school history, had 411 yards total offense in defeat.
Neither team committed a turnover, which was a drastic difference from last year’s 87-14 Morningside triumph when the Defenders had seven turnovers in the first quarter alone.
Mustang quarterback Trent Solsma completed 28 of 37 pass attempts for 363 yards and five touchdowns. Connor Niles was his favorite target with eight receptions for 98 yards and three touchdowns. Niles was not the only Mustang receiver to have a big game, as Solsma spread his completions out among six different receivers. Addison Ross was on the receiving end of seven completions that went for 77 yards and a touchdown, while Chad Berg had five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown and Tanner Ver Steeg had five receptions for 65 yards.
Solsma has thrown only one interception in 363 pass attempts over his last 12 games dating back to last season.
The Mustangs’ rushing attack also showed its might. Morningside gained 307 yards on the ground. Bubba Jenkins led the way with a season’s high 201 yards and three touchdowns in 25 attempts. Jenkins, who averaged 8.0 yards per carry, went over the 100-yard mark for the third game in a row. The Mustangs also received an impressive performance from Taylor Meints, who ripped through the Defenders’ defense for 56 yards in just six attempts for an average of 9.3 yards per carry, and Arnijae Ponder gained 40 yards in eight attempts.
Jenkins’ touchdowns came on runs of 39, 12 and seven yards, while Solsma threw touchdown passes of 13, six and eight yards to Niles, 27 yards to Berg and five yards to Ross. Ponder also got into the scoring act with a 10-yard touchdown run to cap the game’s scoring with 12:25 left in the fourth quarter.
The Defenders also had their share of offensive standouts. Quarterback Brock Lamle passed for 237 yards, including six completions to freshman Levi Jungling that went for 163 yards. Keithen Drury scored all three of the Defenders’ touchdowns on runs of one, one and two yards, but the Mustangs limited the nation’s leading rusher to 83 yards in 23 attempts for an average of only 3.6 yards per carry.
Jenkins began the game with a bang when he broke loose for a 17-yard gain on the Mustangs’ first offensive play of the game and then raced 39 yards to the end zone on the next play to give the Mustangs a 6-0 lead with 13:21 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs made it 12-0 with 8:34 left in the first quarter on a 12-yard TD run by Jenkins.
The Defenders closed within 12-8 on a two-yard touchdown run by Drury followed by a two-point conversion with 6:38 left in the first quarter before a 13-yard touchdown pass from Solsma to Niles with 3:10 left in the quarter gave the Mustangs a 20-8 advantage going into the second stanza.
Former Sioux City Bishop Heelan Catholic prep teammates Solsma and Niles hooked up for two more touchdown passes in the second quarter on strikes of six and eight yards to send the Mustangs into the intermission with a 32-14 advantage.
Morningside dashed any Dordt comeback hopes with three more touchdowns in the third quarter on a seven-yard run by Jenkins and Solsma passes of 27 yards to Berg and five yards to Ross.
Caden McDonald topped the Mustangs’ tackle chart with 11 tackles, including three stops behind the line of scrimmage for losses of 10 yards. McDonald combined with Brad Wolf for the only quarterback sack of the game when they dumped Lamle for a nine-yard loss in the third quarter. Wolf finished with five tackles, including two tackles for losses of 10 yards.
Deion Clayborne just missed double figures with a career-high nine tackles, including seven solos, and had five pass breakups to finish two shy of a school record. Klayton Nordeen and Joel Katzer were next with seven tackles each.
Morningside’s schedule has an open date on next weekend before the Mustangs travel to Orange City, Iowa, on Saturday, Sept. 30, for a 1 p.m. game against Northwestern.
