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Northwestern College Athletics

Northwestern College
HOME OF NORTHWESTERN RED RAIDERS ATHLETICS
HONORING CHRIST THROUGH EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETICS
Nike
football-dakota-wesleyan-recap-2023
49
Winner Northwestern NWC 10-0
28
Dakota Wesleyan (SD) DWU 6-4 , 5
Winner
Northwestern NWC
10-0
49
Final
28
Dakota Wesleyan (SD) DWU
6-4 , 5
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
NWC Northwestern 14 14 7 14 49
DWU Dakota Wesleyan (SD) 0 7 7 14 28

Game Recap: Football | | NWC Athletic Communications

Northwestern Picks Up Tenth Win of the Season with 49-28 Victory Over Dakota Wesleyan

Northwestern clinches GPAC title with Morningside loss

MTICHELL, S.D. – The top-ranked Northwestern College football team (10-0, 9-0 GPAC) picked up their fifth 10-win season – and fourth-straight – under head coach Matt McCarty this afternoon with a 49-28 win over the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (6-4, 5-4 GPAC). The Red Raiders ran wild today with 271 rushing yards and four rushing scores.  
The Red Raiders clinched the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) title today with Morningside's loss to Dordt in Sioux City. It marks the first outright conference title for the Red Raiders since 1996 and the first official GPAC title when the conference was renamed the GPAC in 2000-01.  
"We got off to a great start today. We were able to run the ball very effectively which opened up our passing game," noted McCarty. "The guys up front did a tremendous job and Logan (Meyer) ran physical."
 
Logan Meyer (Jr., Alvord, Iowa) go the run game started strong on the day, picking up a first down with a 10-yard run on the first place from scrimmage. On the first third down of the day, Jalyn Gramstad (Jr., Lester, Iowa) broke off a 38-yard run to break into Tiger territory. The run game was dominant in the opening drive, as the Red Raiders punched it in on a nine-play (all on the ground), 83-yard drive to take the early 7-0 lead.  
 
Dakota Wesleyan put together a drive on their first possession of the day, pushing deep into Red Raider territory. The Northwestern defense would completely shut down the drive as Cody Moser (Sr., Rock Valley, Iowa) tallied his seventh interception in the end zone. The Red Raider offense would take total advantage of the opportunity presented to them, taking it 80 yards in just six plays for the score. A 43-yard reception from Michael Storey (Sr., Spencer, Iowa) would set NWC up for a Konner McQuillan (Sr., Leavenworth, Kan.) score to make it 14-0.
 
Northwestern take the 14-0 lead into the second quarter, where they would put up two more scores to jump out to a 28-0 lead. Early in the second quarter, Gramstad would toss his first touchdown of the day with a 40-yard strike to Ty Schafer (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) for his first touchdown reception of the season.
 
On the next drive, Northwestern would regain possession of the ball thanks to Moser's second interception of the day. Austyn Gerard (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz.) would bring down a touchdown reception with a 11-yard catch from Gramstad to once again make quality use of a Moser pick. The Tigers would punch it in right before the half with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Austin Lee to Kiel Nelson.
 
"Cody (Moser) made some huge plays to stall a couple Tiger drives," said McCarty.
 
The Red Raiders would lead 28-7 at the break. The Red Raider offense recorded nearly 300 yards in the first half behind 15 first downs, while rushing for 142 yards. The Raiders averaged 7.1 yards per rush in the first half, led by 50 yards each from McQuillan and Gramstad.
 
It would be a scoring barrage in the second half as the two teams combined for 42 more points in the third and fourth quarters. Each team found the end zone in the third quarter, as DWU would make it 28-14 before a 7-play, 65-yard drive was capped off with a 1-yard touchdown reception for Storey to make it a three-score game once again at 35-14.
 
The fourth quarter saw the most combined points of any quarter, as 28 points were put on the board as each team put up two touchdowns. It started with a little over 10 minutes left when Jamin Arend capped off an 8-play, 79-yard drive (35-21, NWC).
 
Northwestern would punch it in for the next two scores as Meyer would pick up rushing scores No. 2 and No. 3 on the day, with runs of 13 and 19 yards. His 19-yard scamper was the first play from scrimmage following a Tristan Mulder (Jr., Rock Valley, Iowa) interception deep inside DWU territory. The Red Raiders would win their 23rd-straight game, 49-21 in Mitchell.
 
GAME NOTES:
  • Northwestern wins their first outright conference title since 1996 with the win and Morningside loss today.
  • NWC puts together their fourth-straight 10-win season under Matt McCarty and the fifth time in the McCarty era; it marks the 15th in program history.
  • DWU marks the seventh opponent the Red Raider defense has held scoreless in the first quarter this season.
  • Michael Storey becomes just the third Red Raider in program history to notch 40 career touchdown receptions.
  • NWC had 495 yards of offense to DWU's 418.
  • The win streak is now up to 23-straight games.
  • The Red Raiders put up 271 yards on the ground today, the most since Week 1 when they put up 387 at Concordia (Neb.).
  • NWC blew out their season average of 5.6 yards per rush with a whopping 7.5 today.
  • Konner McQuillan picked up 127 yards on the ground with one score; marking his 13th-career 100-yard rushing game.
  • Logan Meyer found the end zone on three of his nine touches, recording 63 yards on the ground.
  • Jalyn Gramstad was 13-for-16 (81.3%) through the air with three TD tosses.
  • Michael Storey, Ty Schafer, and Austyn Gerard all brought down TD receptions.
  • For Schafer, it marks his first-career TD reception.
  • He also led the receivers with his 98 yards on five receptions.
  • Cody Moser tallies his second-career multi-interception game with his two INTs on the day.
  • Moser now sits alone atop the NAIA interception leader board with his eight on the season.
  • Ben Kingery leads the defense with his 10 tackles, his second-career 10+-tackle game.
  • Tristan Mulder picks up his first interception of the season and his third-career pick today.
  • Morris Hofer records the lone sack today for NWC, recording his second sack of the year.
  • NWC improves to 5-0 in 2023 when forcing 2+ turnovers.
  • Northwestern picks up the 20th win against DWU in the all-time series (20-4).
Up Next: The Red Raiders will close out the regular season next Saturday (November 11) when they play host to the Jamestown Jimmies (2-8, 2-7 GPAC) on Armistice/Veterans Day in Orange City.  
Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut
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