Nebraska Wesleyan Tops Eureka in Season Opener, 31-6
EUREKA – Nebraska Wesleyan topped Eureka 31-6 in the Red Devils' home football opener on a sunny afternoon at McKinzie Field.
The maroon and gold struggled to move the ball and extend drives on Saturday, but the defense managed to limit the Prairie Wolves to one score in three of the four quarters. Eureka held the visitors to 38 fewer points than in last year's 69-20 rout in Lincoln.
On the other side of the ball, Sebastian Hill (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) tallied 118 receiving yards on eight catches.
Freshman quarterback Noah Berlett (Washington, Ill./Washington) took over for Lukas Tinkham (Abingdon, Ill./Abingdon-Avon) in the second half and notched 101 passing yards on 8-of-18 passing and recorded his first career touchdown pass on a 27-yard connection with Hill early in the fourth quarter to put the Red Devils on the board. Tinkham, a junior, added 82 passing yards with eight completions in 26 tries.
Senior Ben Bernabei (Peru, Ill./St. Bede Academy) tallied 40 rushing yards on 15 attempts.
Defensively, Taijaun Johnson (Peoria, Ill./Manual) tallied a team-high seven total tackles. Chuck Weathersby (Kankakee, Ill./Kankakee) and Brendan Durr (Washington, Ill./Washington) each had six and Garrett Wayne (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) had five. Weathersby also forced a fumble that led to a Red Devils recovery in the first quarter.
The Red Devils D stopped Nebraska Wesleyan on its first drive of the game, but the Prairie Wolves found the end zone on a 90-yard touchdown pass from Carter Terry to Cole Siems on the team's second drive.
Terry recorded a 24-yard touchdown pass near the end of the quarter to make it 13-0, and the Prairie Wolves missed the extra point attempt.
In the second quarter, Nebraska Wesleyan's Austin Neufeld converted a 39-yeard field goal attempt to make it 16-0. It ended up staying that way until halftime.
Eureka held the Prairie Wolves off for the first two drives of the half, then the visitors put together an 11-play, 85-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Terry to Kaden Edwoldt to give Nebraska Wesleyan a 23-point advantage.
After Berlett and Hill made it 23-6, the Prairie Wolves answered with another successful drive, going 70 yards in four plays, scoring and getting the two-point conversion to make it 31-6.
Punter Sam Bartels (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) finished with 301 yards on 10 punts, with a long of 45.
Next Saturday, the Red Devils (0-1) will go on the road for the first time and look to build on Week 1 in a 12 p.m. CT kickoff at Olivet (1-0).
