Football Erases 20-Point Deficit to Defeat Lancers

Football played their first home game in a month as they hosted Mount Marty on Saturday. The Lancers jumped out with 20 points in the opening 17 minutes of action but would be shut down the rest of the way as Doane rallied for a 21-20 victory.

Midway through the opening quarter, Mount Marty scored their first touchdown on a 30-yard completion. The Lancers turned an interception into seven points just before the end of the quarter with a 7-yard touchdown completion. To open the second quarter, the Lancer defense held Doane to a 3-and-out to force a punt. Issac Crownover blocked the ensuing punt, picked up the ball and took it in for the touchdown. The extra point was missed.

On the following kickoff, a 64-yard return by Rian Green for the Tigers set up the offense in Lancer territory. Doane was able to get to the 17-yard line but an errant snap would push Doane backwards and they would settle for a 41-yard field goal from Kelen Meyer.

In the latter stages of the second quarter, the Tigers would find the end zone as Cruz Kirwan hit Karsen Reimers for a 45-yard score. The extra point would pull Doane within 10 points with 2:47 to play in the quarter. On the Lancers next drive, they would run a fake punt on 4-and-1 and convert only to have Marcus Randazzo knock the ball out of the punter's hands and Trystan Graf recovered it at the Mount Marty 47-yard line. Doane moved the ball 39 yards over 1:24 to set up a 25-yard field goal by Meyer as time expired on the half with the Lancers leading 20-13.

The second half would belong to the Doane defense. Both teams would punt on their first possession of the third quarter but it was a 50-yard punt by Meyer that would pin the Lancers inside their own 20-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Jarett Boggs made a tackle five-yards behind the line of scrimmage. On the next play, the Lancers' shotgun snap was mishandled and knocked backwards into the end zone allowing Ty Martinsen to jump on the quarterback for a safety.

The teams would exchange punts following the safety. Doane would take possession of the ball at their 42-yard line with 7:45 to play in the third quarter. Graf showed that he could run through obstacles, better known as potential tacklers, with a 10 second - 58 yards dash to the end zone on the first play of the drive to give Doane their first lead. The two-point attempt was unsuccessful, leaving Doane in front, 21-20.

The defense would continue to be stingy. As the third quarter came to a close, Owen Kuntz would pick up a tackle for loss of three yards to drop the Mount Marty yardage total to 19 yards for the quarter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Brenden Knapp intercepted a pass to give Doane the ball. The Lancers would gain 19 yards on their next possession, the only yards they collected in the final quarter. The third and final Mount Marty possession of the quarter resulted in a Knapp interception on the first play of the drive. Doane would run out the final 6:36 of game time with an 11 play drive that resulted in two victory formation snaps.

The Tiger defense held Mount Marty to their second-lowest offensive output of the season as the Lancers finished with 202 total yards. They were held to 191 by No. 1 Northwestern earlier this season. In the second half, Mount Marty had 38 yards of total offense and were held to minus-nine yards rushing. They were 0-for-5 on third down in the second half and 3-for-12 for the game.

Doane had 10 tackles for loss in the game and two sacks. Kuntz posted six tackles, including three tackles for loss and a sack. Martinsen was also in on six tackles, with 2.5 tackles for loss. Boggs was joined by Cooper Hancock and Carson Lavaley with five tackles apiece. 

Randazzo finished with two forced fumbles, recovered by Jaheim Fuller and Graf. Knapp collected both interceptions in the game.

Kirwan threw for 150 yards on 13-of-22 passing and one touchdown. Jeremiah Payne, John DeRiso, and Nate Fox had three receptions apiece. Reimers had a team-high 50 yards receiving on two catches. Graf led the ground game with 116 yards rushing on nine carries. Green posted 72 yards on 16 carries.

Meyer was 2-for-3 in field goal attempts and also averaged 41.3 yards per punt on special teams.

Next up for the Tigers will be a trip to Seward to take on Concordia next Saturday, November 4, at 1 PM.