Records ready to fall as DWU heads to Nebraska Wesleyan

MITCHELL, S.D. – Three records appear to be on the verge of being broken this weekend when the Dakota Wesleyan University football team travels to Lincoln, Neb., to take on Nebraska Wesleyan University Saturday.

When the Great Plains Athletic Conference matchup is over, there could be new names at the top of the career rushing, passing and total offense lists in the DWU record books. Senior running back Josh Endres is just 20 yards shy of the career rushing records and junior quarterback Jon Bane is 158 yards away from the career passing yards and needs 324 yards to become the school's all-time leader in total offense.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Abel Field in Lincoln. The Tigers enter Saturday's game 5-3 overall and 4-3 in the GPAC. Dakota Wesleyan is coming off a 41-13 loss to Northwestern College last week at Joe Quintal Field. The Prairie Wolves are 4-4 overall and 3-4 in the league and have won three of their past four games.

Endres ran for 117 yards last week against Northwestern, and ended the night just 20 yards shy of the school's all-time rushing record. He currently has 3,131 rushing yards with two games left in his Tiger career, and needs just 20 yards to tie the record of 3,151 yards, set in 1994-96 by Mark Conrad. The Ethan, S.D., native is also 192 yards away from the single-season rushing record of 1,296 yards, set in 1989 by Fred Smith. Endres currently has 1,104 rushing yards this season.

In just three seasons with the Tigers, Bane looks to take over the school's career passing and total offense records with a full season left to play. He currently has 6,436 total passing yards and is 158 shy of the record, which is currently 6,594 yards, set in 2006-09 by Jon Doom. Bane also has 6,542 yards of total offense, and needs 324 to tie the current record of 6,866, also set by Doom.

The Tiger offense is looking to get back on track this week after rushing for just 96 yards and throwing for 92 last week against the Red Raiders. DWU is fourth in total offense (376.8) and pass offense (242.4) and seventh in rush offense (134.4). The Prairie Wolves will be looking to stop Endres and the Tigers' rushing game. They are No. 2 in the GPAC in rushing defense, giving up just 64 yards per game on the ground. Nebraska Wesleyan is also third in scoring defense and has given up an average 20 points per game.

The DWU defense will be trying to force Nebraska Wesleyan into making mistakes and committing turnovers, much like it did to the Northwestern offense last week. Last week, the Tiger defense forced seven fumbles and recovered four, and also blocked two extra-point attempts. Josh Thompson and Matt Tuttle each got a hand on an extra-point attempt, and Jeff Maassen, Eric Gruis and Craig Henglefelt all recovered a fumble.

Nebraska Wesleyan looks to extend its three-game winning streak this week. After going 1-4 to start the season and losing four straight after winning their season opener, the Prairie Wolves have beat Concordia, Dordt and Briar Cliff. Last week against the Chargers, NWU used two third-quarter turnovers to take a lead after trailing at halftime.

Tyler Francis has seen the most snaps at quarterback for the Prairie Wolves this season and has thrown for 961 yards and five touchdowns, but Nate Hauptman has thrown for 770 yards and four touchdowns. Jordan Delbaugh has 369 receiving yards and Dustin Bryant leads the team with 452 rushing yards and 230 receiving yards. Brett Kaczor leads the NWU defense with 70 tackles, Phil Latimer has 11.5 tackles for a loss and Cody Eiler has six interceptions.

For those that can't make the trip to Lincoln, the game can be heard live locally at 105.9 FM or anywhere online at www.kmit.com. There will also be a live webcast athttp://client.stretchinternet.com/client/nwu.portal#.