Tanner Hoops | Staff Writer
Football is a game of inches, the old saying goes. Inches made the difference during the Buena Vista University (BVU) football team’s home opener Saturday night against Waldorf, where the Beaver defense came up with a goal line stand in the final minute of the 4th quarter to secure a 14-10 victory.
Waldorf got on the scoreboard first via a 3-yard quarterback keeper by Cody Smith with less than a minute left in the first quarter. The Beavers responded with an 8-play, 83-yard drive capped off by a Cody Mowery 10-yard touchdown scamper with under two minutes to play in the first half. The touchdown was set up by a 27-yard scramble by Mowery and a 26-yard catch by Ben Seitz from Trevor Trunck earlier in the drive.
The two teams shut each other out in the third quarter before the Warriors took a 10-7 lead when Dustin Wilke connected on a 41-yard field goal in the opening minute of the fourth stanza. The Beavers got down to the Waldorf 1-yard line on their next drive before Tory Beger crossed the goal-line on a quarterback keeper to give BVU it’s first lead of the game. Tyler Stolen’s point after attempt made it a four-point advantage for the blue and gold.
Waldorf marched down to the Beaver 8-yard line with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game. After back-to-back runs by Warrior tailback Julian Ampaw got the ball down to the Beaver 1-yard line, Smith was stuffed by the BVU defense at the goal line with nine seconds left. With no timeouts remaining, Waldorf scrambled to get a play off but time expired before the ball could be snapped, giving the Beavers their first victory of the season, which came on the inaugural night game in the history of J. Leslie Rollins Stadium.
“It was good to get the win. By no means do we think we played as well as we can,” 10th-year Head Coach Jay Anderson said. “We have to clean up the turnovers and take advantage of great field position when the opportunity presents itself.”
Mowery rushed for a career-high 165 yards on 30 touches and had one touchdown, while Seitz hauled in five catches for 66 yards. Brady Illg led the team in the tackles for the third straight game, racking up 14 in the game. Zach Mueggenberg followed closely behind with 12 and Quamaree Harris added nine stops.
“We came out slow offensively, which came back to bite us, but a win is a win,” Mowery said, “It feels good to know that the work you put in during the week pays off. I’ve got to credit my line for opening holes and making the career high possible.”
The Beavers move to 1-2 on the season and open IIAC play Saturday, October 3rd at Simpson before returning home on October 10th to take on Loras for Homecoming.
Photo by Taylor Staab
