Central College Defeats Wesleyan 49-35

PELLA, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan pulled within six points in the second half and got into the Central College red zone, but a turnover ended the drive and Dutch then scored 22 unanswered points to register a 49-35 victory over the Prairie Wolves Saturday in Pella, Iowa.

 Nebraska Wesleyan now has dropped four straight games to fall to 3-4 overall.  The Prairie Wolves return home next Saturday to host Loras College.  All NWU football and men’s basketball games are broadcast on KFOR and kfornow.com.

Trailing 27-21 in the 3rd quarter the Prairie Wolves mounted a drive and got down to the Central 15-yard line.  NWU setup a screen pass that was intercepted by defensive lineman Hunter Maddy.  The Dutch then went 65 yards for a touchdown and would add two more 4th quarter touchdowns to get up by three scores.Central jumped ahead 10-0 in the 1stquarter before the NWU offense could get on track.  Finally in the 2ndquarter, the Prairie Wolves went 96 yards for a scoring drive that was capped by a 9-yard TD pass from Jonathan Curti to tight end Logan Hughes on 4th down with Curti scrambling around then finding Hughes in the end zone.

The two teams then traded touchdowns as Blaine Hawkins made a terrific 31 yard touchdown run for Central, then Curti hit Alex Mathis for a 5-yard touchdown to make it 17-14 with 2:46 left in the 2ndquarter.  Central got a 60-yard kickoff return that put them in good field position and they added another Hawkins rushing touchdown with 56 seconds left.

To start the second half, Central kicked its second field goal of the game to make the score 27-14.  Less than one minute later, the Prairie Wolves capped a 75-yard scoring drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Curti to Prentice Wilson Jr.  That was as close as the Prairie Wolves could get.

NWU did add two fourth quarter touchdowns with Derrick Curtiscatching a 44-yard TD pass and Brant Barth catching a 8-yard pass.

Jonathan Curti had another huge game for the Prairie Wolves setting a school record with 39 pass completions.  Curti was 39-67 for 433 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.  He added 64 yards on the ground giving him 497 yards of total offense.

Colby Ensz was the only player to carry the ball besides Curti, rushing for 51 yards on 15 carries.  Kevin Tims caught a team-high 10 receptions for 59 yards, with Wilson making eight receptions for 66 yards and a TD.

Curtis went over 100 yards receiving once again with five receptions for 124 yards and a TD.

Jacob Garnas made a career-high 19 tackles to lead the Prairie Wolves defense.

Blaine Hawkins put together a big game passing for 187 yards with two touchdowns and rushing for 94 yards and two TDs.  Jason Hopp ran for 164 yards on 20 carries with a TD.