Nebraska Wesleyan scored in all three phases of the game and picked up their third straight victory as the Prairie Wolves blew out Briar Cliff 52-7 in GPAC football action on Saturday (Oct. 29) at Abel Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.
NWU improves to 5-3 overall, 4-3 in GPAC to move into a three-way tie for fourth place.
It was the NWU defense that scored first as Brett Kaczor picked off BCU quarterback Tom Trificanti on the first play of the game and ran it back for a 24-yard touchdown return to put NWU 7-0. From there the Prairie Wolves would continue to roll.
Later in the first quarter Russell Walton stripped the BCU running back of the ball and took the ball in from four-yards out for another defensive touchdown.
The NWU offense finally got into the action in the second quarter as Jordan Delbaugh used his shiftiness to run 21-yards for a touchdown. Delbaugh would score again just two minutes later as he recovered a bad punt snap in the end zone.
Steven Anderson added a 41-yard field goal and quarterback Ethan Myers had a 24-yard touchdown run to make the score 38-0 at halftime as the Prairie Wolves scored 24 second quarter points.
On the opening kickoff of the second half Cody Eiler took the kick 90 yards back for a touchdown to put NWU up 45-0.
Myers would score another touchdown this time he was on the receiving end of the score as he caught a 8-yard pass from Joe Manley on a double-reverse pass.
Briar Cliff got their only score of the game on the first play of the next series as Tom Traficanti hit Bryce Harshman from 59-yards out for a touchdown.
It was another dominant performance for the Nebraska Wesleyan defense. The Prairie Wolves held BCU to (-37) yards rushing on 30 carries and 191 yards of total offense.
Brett Kaczor had a huge game for NWU with seven tackles, two interceptions for 51 yards including a TD, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a quarterback sack. Russell Walton led the NWU defense with eight tackles, a TFL, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and touchdown.
Offensively, Nebraska Wesleyan managed 368 yards of total offense with a season-high 281 yards on the ground and 87 yards through the air.
Jordan Delbaugh ran for 77 yards on just nine carries with a touchdown while Tim Immonen had 66 yards on five carries with a 44-yard blast up the middle. Ethan Myers was 7-16 for 67 yards through the air.
