Mid States
[Football] Bees dominate season opener vs. Iowa Wesleyan
St. Ambrose got its 2021 season off to a great start with a 45-13 win over Iowa Wesleyan Saturday afternoon at Brady Street Stadium.The Bees rolled up 595 yards of total offense, including 336 yards on the ground. Five different running backs combined for 356 yards, led by Cade Gorzny's 106 yards on just nine carries. T'Nahleg Hall powered for 96 yards, Kaden King carried for 63 yards and Trent Nunn and Ray Bouye finished with 46 and 45 yards, respectively.Tom Casey started at quarterback and completed 14-of-24 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns. John Benckendorf finished up by going 5-of-6 for 62 yards and a score.The Bees, who scored in every quarter, led just 10-7 in the opening minutes of the second quarter. But Hall capped a six-play, 85-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown to open up a 17-7 lead. Anthony Brown and Drew Ackman had back-to-back sacks as the defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back for the offense with two minutes remaining in the half. Casey engineered a 79-yard scoring drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Yemi Ward with five seconds left to extend the lead to 24-7 at the break.That was Ward's second touchdown reception of the day. He got St. Ambrose on the board on just its second offensive possession of the year by hauling in a 24-yard TD pass from Casey. That came on the heels of a Sibley interception in the end zone that thwarted an early Tiger drive. Ward's first touchdown was followed by a 26-yard Tom Gillen field goal in the opening quarter.Benckendorf fired a 28-yard scoring strike to Justin Wright midway through the third quarter and King scored on runs of one and three yards to complete the Bee scoring.Wright led the SAU receiving corps with seven receptions for 102 yards. Ward had four catches for 68 yards. Bouye, Blake Wittman, Nunn, Ben Gilbert, D.J. Mumaw, Tyreece Morgan and Sam Kerr combined for eight catches and 89 yards.The Bees averaged 7.3 yards per play while limiting the Tigers to 4.0 yards per play.Iowa Wesleyan (0-1) totaled just 305 yards with only 32 of those yards coming on the ground over 22 carries.Max Gourley led the defense with seven tackles. Nick Daniel had five. Mark Skokna joined Sibley with an interception in the win.St. Ambrose will host Waldorf next Saturday at Brady Street Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.Video highlights below courtesy SAUtv (play-by-play from Logen Howell, KALA Radio)Tom Casey and Yemi Ward connect on a 24-yard touchdown to give the Bees a 7-0 leadJustin Wright hauls in a 44-yard pass from Tom Casey midway through the first quarterT'Nahleg Hall scores from two yards out to give SAU a 17-7 leadTom Casey finds Yemi Ward on a 15-yard scoring strike in the closing seconds of the first half for a 24-7 leadJohn Benckendorf hits Justin Wright on a 28-yard touchdown pass for a 31-7 lead