Jacob Kalogonis scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead No.19 Northwestern College to a 24-21 road win over Midland this afternoon at Heedum Field in Fremont, Neb. The Red Raiders improve to 3-1 in the GPAC, 5-1 overall and Midland drops to 2-2 in GPAC play, 4-2 overall.
Trailing 21-17 heading into the fourth quarter, Northwestern grabbed the lead for good when Kalogonis scored off a one-yard plunge to cap a 7-play, 49-yard drive to put his team in front by three with eight minutes left to play. The Raider D clamped down on Midland's final two drives, forcing the Warriors to punt and then getting a key fourth-down stop after a Northwestern turnover to preserve the win.
Kalogonis posted his fourth 100-yard game of the season, rushing 20 times for 136 yards and a touchdown, to lead the Red Raider offense.
Tyson Kooima added 11 carries for 49 yards and a score while also completing 19-of-32 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown.
Levi TeBrink matched his career-high with seven catches for a career-best 151 yards and both
Jared Nelson (38) and
J.C. Koerselman (24) totaled four catches each.
Northwestern fell behind 14-0 by the end of the first quarter as Midland capitalized on a couple of big plays in the passing game to score on its first two drives. Garry Cannon connected with Lukas Vopnford for a 54-yard touchdown on a screen pass for the first touchdown and Cannon found Mike Seawell for a 42-yard score on the second drive.
The Red Raiders, however, dominated the second quarter with 17 unanswered points to take their first lead, 17-14, by halftime. Kooima threw a six-yard touchdown strike to Koerselman to finish off a three-play, 71-yard drive for the Red Raiders first score. Following a Midland punt,
Braxton Williams converted a 37-yard field goal with 1:30 left to make it 14-10 and the Raider D came up with a big play as
Joey Novotny forced a Midland fumble that was recovered by Jed Van't Hof, giving NW the ball back at the Warriors 15-yard line. Two plays later, Kooima scored on a 10-yard run, giving his team the lead by three.
Midland scored the only points of the third quarter when Peyton Nelson ran it in from 13-yards out to reclaim the lead 21-17 with 2:21 left, setting up the game-winning drive for Northwestern in the final quarter.
Northwestern totaled 460 yards on offense, 198 rush and 262 through the air. Defensively, the Red Raiders gave up 338 yards to Midland and were led by both
Bryce Van Beek and
Sean Powell with 5.5 tackles each. Powell registered a quarterback sack and both Novotny and Hansen totaled five tackles.
Cannon led Midland's offense, completing 13-of-19 passes for 186 yards and two scores. Seawell caught three passes for 72 yards and Vopnford added three catches for 63 yards.
Northwestern will host DWU on Saturday night, Oct. 14, at 7pm.
