Sept. 11, 2005

Dana College football led the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves 19-7 with 13 minutes remaining in Saturday’s football game in Lincoln, Neb. But what could have been a big win for the Vikings slipped away with the time clock as the Wolves rallied to win 27-19.

“ We worked hard. We hustled. We played some of the best football I’ve seen at Dana College for three quarters. But we let it slip away. We’ve got to take it as a learning lesson,” Head Coach Bill Danenhauer said. “You can bend, but you can’t break.”

In the first three quarters, Dana scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Marcus Sladek (Omaha Westside, Neb.) to B.J. Fields (Millard West, Neb.). After a failed 2-point conversion attempt, Dana put more points on the board with two Rick Lebeda (Omaha Northwest, Neb.) field goals, one from 28 yards out and the other 18 yards.

Two minutes into the fourth, Viking wide receiver Javon Bell (Miami McArthur, Fla.) caught a 16-yard pass for a second Viking touchdown. Lebeda’s extra-point kick was good to put the Vikings at 19.

Bell finished the day with 10 catches for 101 yards and one touchdown. Fields, who caught the Vikings’ other touchdown pass, had four receptions for 47 yards. Matt Neesen (Omaha Gross, Neb.) ran for 62 yards.
QB Sladek completed 26 of 44 passes for 242 yards. At 62 percent, Sladek has one of the highest completion percentages in the GPAC, impressive considering he is a freshman and playing on the most pass-oriented offense in the conference.

On defense, Willie Crawford (Mendicino, Calif.) led the Vikings with eight total tackles (seven solo, one assist) and one interception. The Vikings combined for six sacks — one each by Mike Buchanan (University of Nebraska at Omaha), Shaun O’Connell (Millard North, Neb.), Jon-Michael Wilson (Omaha Bryan, Neb.), Kurt Ferguson (Millard South, Neb.), Greg Wilmes (Creighton, Neb.), and Terrance McLean (San Antonio Challenge, Texas).

The Vikings’ record is now 1-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and overall.

Dana will host Dakota Wesleyan Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

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

For more information, contact:
Leslie Rasmussen, sports information director, (402) 426-7298, lrasmuss@dana.edu
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Shad Beam, assistant sports information director, (402) 426-7389, sbeam@dana.edu