Briar Cliff clips DWU football on final drive
Oct. 21—SIOUX CITY, Iowa. — Dakota Wesleyan football's run of road victories in 2023 came to an end on Saturday as Briar Cliff rallied to clip the Tigers in a 21-17 Great Plains Athletic Conference game.
Aaron Okoro caught a deflected pass off a DWU defender with 31 seconds left in the back corner of the end zone for the game-winning score. It was yet another close game for the Tigers this season, who have had six of their eight games this season decided by seven points or less. DWU had previously won its first three road games of the season.
"At the end of the day, (Briar Cliff was) the better team," DWU coach Ross Cimpl said in a postgame radio interview. "They played better and they wanted it more. That's super frustrating but that's the fact of the matter. We either need to fix the mistakes we're making because they're going to bite us or you learn the hard way, and we learned a lot of things the hard way today."
All of the game's scoring was in the second half. DWU Austin Lee scored on the second play of the third quarter on a 78-yard quarterback keeper that put DWU up 7-0 with 54 seconds elapsed. Briar Cliff answered with a six-minute drive that was capped with a Matthew Mason 9-yard touchdown run. DWU took advantage of good special teams to end the third quarter, with Samuel Welch pinning BCU deep with a 59-yard punt and the Tigers turned that into a 39-yard Jaxon Patrick field goal on the next drive for a 10-7 advantage.
DWU's most painful mistake of the day on offense came early in the third quarter, with Brayden Pommier picking off a short pass attempt from Lee and running it back 48 yards for a touchdown, putting the Chargers up 14-10.
Less than a minute later, DWU's Jamin Arend provided the quick retort, a 45-yard touchdown run to put DWU back ahead 17-14 with 10:47 to play. The Tigers got a fourth-down stop on the next drive at their 30 yard line, halting a 10-play BCU drive, but DWU went three-and-out on the next drive, giving the Chargers the ball at their own 41 with 2:53 left. The Chargers converted a fourth-and-six on the drive and capped it with Okoro's touchdown catch from Brock Saya to go ahead for good.
DWU's last gasp on offense ended when Lee was intercepted by Zach Buick at the DWU 45 with 14 seconds left.
"We had self-inflicted mistakes," Cimpl said. "You can't give up points with your defense off the field. We had two guys in the end zone when they threw the fade ball and the guy we're double-covering comes down with the ball. ... We'll find out what we're made of in the last three weeks."
DWU (5-3, 4-3 GPAC) was kept to 85 yards passing and bludgeoned the Chargers defense on the ground to move the ball, rushing 29 times for 205 yards. DWU also allowed three sacks, an uncharacteristic amount compared to the five allowed total all season prior to Saturday. Briar Cliff (3-5, 3-4 GPAC) finished the day with a 319-290 edge in total yards.
For the Tigers' Arend had 124 yards on 22 carries, while Lee was 8-for-19 passing for 85 yards and two interceptions but Lee rushed seven times for 81 yards. Kiel Nelson was DWU's top receiver with two grabs for 22 yards. Ethan Engen led the team with eight tackles, with Joe Van Overschelde making seven stops. Jaiden Walton forced a fumble that was recovered by Layton Eide in the first quarter.
The Tigers are home on Oct. 28 to host Jamestown for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Joe Quintal Field.
