Northern State’s Chaka Kelly scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with :17 left to give Northern State a 23-16 win over Wayne State in the 2017 college football opener for both teams Thursday evening at Swisher Field in Aberdeen, S.D.
Wayne State took advantage of a Shaq Paddy interception to put the first points of the game on the board. The turnover forced by the Wildcat defense led to a career-long 45-yard field goal by Ethan Knudson to give the Wildcats the early 3-0 advantage.
Wayne State had a chance to increase the advantage later in the opening period, but the Wolves stopped the Wildcats on the Northern State 1-yard line, and the Wolves’ offense took the ball down the field before settling on a 30-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
Northern State got another field goal later in the second period to lead 6-3, but Wayne State responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 21-yard scoringn pass from Zach Osborn to redshirt freshman tight end Conner Paxton to make it 10-6 with :46 left in the half.
Northern State was able to get in field position with time running out, and kicker Nathan Shaw hit his third field goal of the half, a 48-yarder, to make it 10-9 at the break.
Wayne State scored on a six-yard pass from Osborn to Nate Rogers, capping a 12-play, 97-yard drive that gave Wayne State a 16-9 advantage.
Northern State came back late in the third, using a 29-yard pass play to tie the game at 16-16 going to the final period.
Defense ruled the day in the final period. Wayne State had a chance to score but a 50-yard field goal attempt by Knudson fell short with 2:30 left. The Wolves came back, converted a fourth-and-seven to set up the game-winner by Kelly, who went around the right side to score the winning touchdown.
Osborn was 28-of-43 passing for 262 yards and two touchdowns to highlight Wayne State’s 382-yard effort in total offense. Willie Walton was the leading receiver with seven grabs for 99 yards, while Layne Sullivan had six catches for 56 yards. Paxton and Rogers each caught four balls for 27 and 23 yards, respectively, with one touchdown apiece. Rashad Trimble led the ground game with 70 yards on 12 carries.
Defensively, Tyler Thomsen led the Wildcats with 13 tackles and two sacks. Odessa Clark had nine stops and DeWayne Scott had eight. Paddy had six tackles to go with his interception.
Wayne State (0-1) will be at home on Saturday evening, Sept. 9, hosting the University of Mary in a 6 p.m. contest at Bob Cunningham Field.
