No. 15 Tiger football closes regular season at Dordt

MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University football team kept its hopes of a spot in the NAIA Championship Series alive with a dramatic win last weekend over Concordia University and head into the final game of the regular season ranked No. 15 in the nation.

The Tigers, now 8-2 overall and 6-2 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, take on Dordt College at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sioux Center, Iowa. DWU comes into play this weekend on a three-game winning streak and the Tigers are in prime position to make the NAIA postseason for the first time since 1992.

The NAIA postseason includes 16 teams and for the Tigers to fill one of those spots they will need a win over the Defenders. DWU has not lost to Dordt (2-8, 1-7 GPAC) in the seven prior meetings, including a 40-14 win to close last season at home. A win over the Defenders will also secure a third place finish in the GPAC for the Tigers.

DWU took care of business in hard-fought game against Concordia last weekend, forcing several turnovers and getting big plays in the clutch in a 17-10 win to close out the home portion of the schedule. The Tigers forced six turnovers by the Bulldogs, including three interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

Concordia shut down a DWU offense that has looked unstoppable at times this season, holding the Tigers to just 158 yards of total offense. DWU took advantage of a short field after a Tiger punt hit a member of the Bulldog coverage team in the back setting the home team up at the Concordia 38-yard line. After a penalty set up DWU in the red zone, sophomore quarterback Dillon Turner (Salem, Ark.) hit junior wide receiver Dustin Livingston (Irene, S.D.) for a 17-yard touchdown to even the score at seven early in the second quarter.

After the teams traded field goals to move the score to 10-10, the DWU special teams took over. Senior kicker/punter Daniel Porter (Plattsmouth, Neb.) pinned the Bulldogs at their own 2-yard line with a 60 yard punt and the DWU defense held Concordia right there. The Bulldogs punted from their own end zone and Livingston took care of the rest. He took the punt at the DWU 48-yard line on the near side, reversed his field, picking up a pair of key blocks. Livingston took off down the far sideline all the way in for a 52-yard touchdown to put DWU up 17-10 in the fourth quarter.

After a long drive by DWU stalled with three minutes to go, the Bulldogs took over on their own 21 with a chance to drive down the field for the tying score. Fourteen plays later, Concordia had a 4^th-and-10 from the DWU 16-yard line. The Bulldog pass to the end zone was broken up by DWU senior Zach Thiel (Powell, Wyo.) and the clock ran out.

Despite the offense failing to get going against a tough Bulldog defense, the Tigers put up one of its best defensive performances of the season, forcing six turnovers, while coming away with three sacks and 10 total tackles for loss. The DWU defensive backfield was also in fine form, with six pass breakups and three interceptions.

Junior defensive end Brady Mudder (Garretson, S.D.) was a force for DWU all game, finishing with eight tackles, seven solo, two sacks, five tackles for loss and a forced fumble. For his effort, Mudder was named the GPAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week on Monday.

The Defenders come into the final game of their season with having lost two straight games, and have allowed 135 points over the last two weeks. Dordt fell to Hastings College 62-31 last weekend and were run off the field 73-0 by No. 5 Doane College on Halloween.

Dordt will run the ball and run it often against DWU. The Defenders rank sixth in the nation in total rushing offense with 2,734 yards this season, which is the best in the GPAC. On the flip side, Dordt has passed for just 603 yards in 2015 on just 109 attempts through 10 games.