Sept. 5, 2005

BLAIR, NEB. — With first and goal on the Dana College 6 yardline and only seconds remaining in Saturday’s football game, the Doane College Tigers threatened to score and send the game into overtime. But the Vikings held the line through four downs to secure Dana’s 30-23 victory over Doane.

In all, the Viking Fury Defense forced six turnovers and four sacks. Clay Salberg (Gretna, Neb.) had five solo tackles, two assists, 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Kurt Ferguson (Millard South, Neb.), Mike Buchanan (University of Nebraska at Omaha) and Shaun O’Connell (Millard North, Neb.) also topped the Dana tackle charts.

“ We saw good and bad things on both sides of the ball, but I’m most impressed with how the team fought through the bad things, didn’t give up and believed in each other. That shows the character of this team,” Head Coach Bill Danenhauer said.

On offense, Dana revealed freshman quarterback Marcus Sladek (Omaha Westside, Neb.) a little sooner than expected. Sladek was recruited from Omaha Westside as a quality backup to veteran QB Tom Lensch (David City, Neb.), but Sladek’s entered the game after Lensch suffered a concussion just minutes into the game and was sidelined. Sladek completed 23-of-35 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

“ We were all surprised to have Marcus playing so soon,” Danenhauer said. “He is a talented athlete, but as our backup quarterback, he only sees one-third of the reps in practice — he doesn’t see every situation. He handled it all very well. The team rallied around him, and we tailored our offense to the plays he was most comfortable with.

“Tommy (Lensch) has matured as an athlete and reads the field well. To lose him so early in the game was an adjustment.”

On the opening drive Lensch completed a pass to Greg Hill (Omaha Gross, Neb.) for Dana’s first touchdown. Lensch, who was playing with the concussion suffered on a previous play, fumbled on the 2-point conversion attempt. Doane picked up the fumble and ran all the way back to end zone, making the score 6-2.

That’s when Sladek took over. Sladek found Dajuan Draper (Eaglecrest, Colo.) for 34 yards on the final play of the first quarter to set up Matt Neesen’s (Omaha Gross, Neb.) 27-yard touchdown run.

Two Viking fumbles resulted in scoring drives for Doane in the second quarter. By halftime, the score was 16-13 in the Tigers’ favor.

Doane scored again at the start of the third quarter before Dana answered with Javon Bell (McArthur, Fla.). Bell caught four passes in a drive that ended with his 6-yard grab for a touchdown. Heading into the fourth, the score was Doane 23, Dana 20.

On the first drive of the fourth quarter, Sladek completed a 17-yard pass to Neesen for the Vikings’ fourth touchdown. Dana took the lead 27-23. Rick Lebeda (Omaha Northwest, Neb.) increased the score to 30 with a field goal on the following drive.

Neesen finished the day with 116 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for 72 yards on just nine carries.

Bell, who only played in the second half, had six catches for 49 yards and one touchdown. Dan Irwin (Bellevue West, Neb.) had 64 yards on four catches.

Mitch Bowhay (Bellevue West, Neb.) was the special teams star. He turned in five punts averaging 45.6 yards. His longest was 63 yards.

The Vikings travel to Lincoln this Saturday to take on Nebraska Wesleyan. Game time is 2 p.m.
For more information, contact:

Leslie Rasmussen, sports information director, (402) 426-7298, lrasmuss@dana.edu
— or —
Shad Beam, assistant sports information director, (402) 426-7389, sbeam@dana.edu

Full game statistics available at http://www.dana.edu/football/Stats/DOADAN.HTM.

Medium-resolution game photos available at www.dana.edu/football/photos.html.