Vikings Fall 35-13 to Nationally-Rated Foe

Sporting a three-game winning streak, the Dana Vikings football team was challenged in Saturday’s Homecoming contest by NAIA No. 9 Northwestern. Dana fell to the Red Raiders, 35-13.

Challenges were evident early as the Vikings fumbled on their second play from scrimmage, the first of five Dana turnovers on the afternoon.

The Red Raiders were able to capitalize on the Vikings’ mishap, scoring on the fourth play of the drive to give them an early 7-0 lead.

Dana’s second possession also ended in a turnover, this time an interception at the Northwestern three-yard line. As Northwestern edged into Viking territory, junior defensive back Davis Pattee (Shelby, Iowa) came up with his first interception of the year, picking off a pass on the Dana 12-yard line.

The Vikings offense just could get any thing going, and the Red Raiders showed why they have one of the top ranked defenses in the nation. Viking quarterback Marcus Sladek (Omaha, Neb.) was sacked three times on the day and was hurried nine times.

The Raiders put together three more drives in the first half to give them a 28-0 lead at the end of the second period.

The Vikings tried to come out strong the second half and shut down the Raiders offense, but the Raiders overpowered the Vikings’ defense, scoring on an eight-play, 69-yard touchdown drive.

Midway through the third quarter the Vikings started looking like the team that had been on the field the past three weeks. Sladek connected with his receivers Andrew Hawley (Lincoln, Neb.) and Mark Schlueter (Omaha, Neb.) four times to put the Vikings in scoring position. With the ball on the 20-yard line, Robert Fowler (Bellevue, Neb.) was able to find a break in the Raiders’ defense and bust out a 18-yard run. Fowler punched it in two plays later to give the Vikings their first score of the game making it 35-6 as Keith Neal’s (Clarinda, Iowa) point-after attempt sailed wide left
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Defense stayed strong the rest of the game, holding the Raiders scoreless in the fourth quarter. Dana’s offense put together one last drive with Hawley catching four passes from Sladek, giving Hawley 14 receptions on the day for 93 yards, one reception short of the school record. The drive was capped with Sladek throwing up a ball in the back of the end zone to a leaping Steven DiCamillo (Cripple Creek, Colo.) for a 12-yard touchdown reception to narrow the gap to 35-13.

“This game showed us a lot of where we need to be to compete with the top teams in the nation and in our conference,” sand Dana Head Coach Bill Danenhauer. “We got a lot out of this game. We proved to ourselves that we are team that will never give up and we will fight until the end.”

The Vikings will have another tough task on their hands this Saturday as they travel to face another nationally ranked conference foe, Morningside.

For more information, contact:

Shad Beam, sports information director, (402) 426-7389, sbeam@dana.edu
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Francisco Lujan, assistant Sports Information Director, (402) 426-7949, flujan@dana.edu