The University of Jamestown football team traveled to Mitchell, South Dakota for a road conference matchup with Dakota Wesleyan University this afternoon. The Jimmies come into the contest 2-6 with a 2-5 conference record while the Tigers were 5-3 overall with a 4-3 conference record.
Dakota Wesleyan would get on the board first, thanks to a Jaxon Patrick 31-yard field goal with 9:45 left in the 1st quarter. To end the first quarter Tigers quarterback Austin Lee would lead a 9-play, 89-yard touchdown drive ending in a 10-yard pass to receiver Cole Holden making the score 10-0 with 50 seconds left in the 1st quarter. The Jimmies would have a response on just a 5-play, 41-yard touchdown drive that ended with quarterback John Grann throwing a 34-yard touchdown pass to receiver Isaiah Roebuck with 13:29 left in the 2nd quarter. Dakota Wesleyan would respond with their own 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Lee throwing a 16-yard pass that Logan Feuerbach caught for his first touchdown of the season. The Tigers would push the score to 17-7 but they would not stay satisfied adding a blocked punt leading to great field position at the Jamesotnw 7-yard line. After a 3-yard run from Lee, Jamin Arend would carry the ball into the endzone on a 4-yard touchdown rush making the score 24-7 with 3:41 left in the first half.
Coming out of the 2nd half the Jimmies had some ground to make up and they got to work right away. On the opening drive of the 2nd half, Grann would pass to receiver Micah Madyun for 26 yards bringing Jamestown down to the Tigers 36 yard line. Running back Zachariah Hammet would churn out runs of 6 and 9 yards bringing the offense just a yard shy of the redzone. Then the Jimmies would pull out some trickery with Hammet throwing a 21-yard touchdown pass to receiver Gage Solano, Aanon Peterson would drill the extra point and make the score 14-24 with 12:50 left in the third quarter.
The snow flurries would start to fall and the scoring would slow up momentarily until Dakota Wesleyan would muster an 8-play, 34-yard drive that would end with Patrick making a 28-yard field with 4:37 left in the 3rd quarter giving the Tigers a 27-14 lead. Midway through the 4th quarter on a bad snap the Jimmies would force a fumble from the Tigers on Jamestown’s 31-yard line. Caleb Ritter would recover the fumble and return it for 51 yards down to the Dakota Wesleyan 18-yard line. The Jimmies on their first play after the fumble would score on a 18-yard touchdown pass thrown from Grann to Madyun. Peterson would keep his streak of perfection on extra points this season and that would make the score 21-27 with 5:04 left in the game.
Jamestown would get a defensive stop and get the football back with about 4 minutes to go in the ball game at their own 22-yard line. On the first play, Grann would be sacked for a loss of 11 yards. 2 incomplete passes later would leave the Jimmies in 4th and 21 from the Jamestown 11-yard line. Grann would heave the ball down near the 50-yard line down the right sideline and the pass was nearly complete but the pass was batted down at the last second giving Dakota Wesleyan the ball just 11 yards away from the endzone. On the next play Jamin Arend rushed all 11 yards and into the endzone to give the Tigers a 34-21 lead with 2:49 left in the contest. The Jimmies would respond in a hurry, with 3 big catches coming from Dawison Schmidt the first for 6 yards, the second for 21 yards, and the final one a 33-yard touchdown. Jamestown would trail 34-28 with 1:20 left in the game. With only one timeout the Jimmies would send out Peterson to attempt an onside kick but Jamestown would not be able to recover the football effectively ending the ball game. Jamestown would not be able to make up the difference late and that would be your final score with the Jimmies losing 34-28.
The loss pushes the University of Jamestown to 2-7 overall and 2-6 in conference play. The Jimmies will be back in action next Saturday at home against Briar Cliff (Iowa) University. Kickoff is set for 1 pm and you will be able to listen to that game on Jamestown 107.1 FM and video will be available on the Jimmie Athletics Youtube channel.