The Northwestern College football put together another complete performance in its 62-10 win at Hastings in the final road game of the regular season played today at Lloyd Wilson Field. The Raiders push their win streak to six games and improve to 6-1 overall with two games left, both at home, in the regular season.
How about this for excellence on offense…Head Coach Matt McCarty’s squad scored the most points since their 63-26 win over Briar Cliff in 2017. Northwestern scored on 10-of-its-11 drive for the game (8 eight touchdowns, 2 field goals) and compiled 564 yards of total offense. The Raiders ground game rushed for a season-high 293 yards, averaging 8.1 yards per carry, and scored five rushing touchdowns, all by a different player. For the game, Northwestern averaged nearly nine yards per play.
The Raider D was just as effective, limiting the Broncos to 223 total yards, just 82 through the air. Hastings managed only three first downs in the first half and just six first downs heading into the final quarter. Northwestern forced one turnover and made the Broncos punt eight times.
Special teams…Eli Stader converted on all eight extra-point attempts and made field goals from 46 and 41 yards. The freshman matched the single-game record for point-after attempts made, set by Grant Mosier in 2006, and tied for the third most points scored by a Raider kicker in team history. Of his 11 kickoffs, Stader recorded seven touchbacks; Jaden Snyder made the most of his one punt attempt, an 84-yarder, second longest in program history.
Northwestern led 14-0 by the end of the first quarter, scoring touchdowns on a pair of nine-play, 75-yard drives finished off with a one-yard plunge by Konner McQuillan and an 8-yard reception by McQuillan from Tyson Kooima.
Two plays into the second frame, Northwestern made the score 21-0 when Kooima ran it in from six-yards out. Two Stader field goals (46 and 41 yards) gave the Raiders a 27-0 lead with 1:19 left in the first half. On the next Broncos possession, Jake Lynott picked off a pass by Jesse Ulrich and returned it 43 yards down to the Hastings 11-yard line. A completed pass from Kooima to Michael Storey followed by a two-yard touchdown run by Drake Brezina put the score at 34-0 by halftime.
Third quarter play was highlighted by a pair of touchdown passes from Kooima to Solberg (31 and 40 yards) separated by just 2:15 of game time. Northwestern scored its third touchdown in the quarter on a one-yard run by Logan Meyer, giving his team a 55-0 lead.
After a Hastings’ field goal, Garrett Packer completed the scoring for Northwestern on a four-yard run with six minutes left.
Kooima was efficient, completing 18-of-26 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns, in just 2 1/2 quarters. Kooima gained 79 yards on the ground while his back-up, Blake Fryar, threw for 50 yards and rushed for a team-high 81 yards. McQuillen totaled 12 carries for 68 yards and Meyer had 29 yards on seven carries.
Solberg caught six passes for 117 yards and two scores while Storey had four catches for 58 yards.
Defensively, Trevor Rozeboom had 10 tackles, followed by Brett Moser (7), Bryce Paulsen and Noah Van’t Hof (6 tackles each).
Northwestern hosts Briar Cliff on Nov. 14 at 1pm.
