Fulton, MO 9/10/2022- The Westminster football team played their first game this season on Blue Jay field when they took on the Tigers of Iowa Wesleyan in week 2. Both teams came into the game looking for their first win of the season. Iowa Wesleyan lost to Tabor College in week one 17-13 and lost last week to Missouri Baptist 25-23 in a four-overtime thriller. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays were looking to regroup after a 26-0 loss to Knox College last week.
There was a great crowd of Blue Jay faithful in attendance as week two kicked off. The Blue Jays won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Jays kicked off to the Tigers to start the game. Both defenses stood strong the first four drives, forcing both teams to punt twice each. After a Blue Jay punt that was downed near midfield, the Tiger offense took the field for their third drive of the game. Two plays later the Tigers found the end zone on a twenty-two-yard touchdown pass. They would miss the extra point to only have a 6-0 lead.
The Blue Jays would go three and out on their next drive and were forced to punt the ball back to the Iowa Wesleyan air raid offense. The Tigers would receive the punt on the Westminster forty-four-yard line and get a big return to the Westminster twenty-three-yard line. The Tigers would score on the next play to get an early 13-0 lead in the first quarter.
To start the second quarter of play the Blue Jays would change quarterbacks, freshman quarterback Reece Davidson (Lake St. Louis, MO / Liberty) came into the game to spark the struggling Blue Jay offense which had not recorded a first down to this point in the game. On third and nine, Davidson launched a ball to wideout Dylan Clapsaddle (Lake St. Louis, MO / Liberty) who was streaking down the left sideline wide open and with room to run. They finally brought Clapsaddle down at the Iowa Wesleyan thirty-yard line as the crowd erupted on the fifty-six-yard catch and run. Unfortunately, the Jays could not capitalize on the big play after an illegal substitution penalty halted their momentum. The Tigers' defense would force a fumble on the next play and recover the ball for the first turnover of the day.
The Blue Jays would sniff the end zone again near halftime. With a minute left in the half, the Blue Jay defense forced a turnover on downs. Justin Scales (St. Louis, Mo. / Trinity Catholic) got to the quarterback for a sack on first down. Scales would be in the backfield again on second down alongside Marcus Stephens (Camdenton, Mo. / Camdenton) to sack the Tiger QB on back-to-back plays. Logan Blickhan (Kirksville, MO / Kirksville) defended a pass on third and very long to force the incomplete pass. The Tigers had a bad snap on the punt attempt that resulted in a broken play and a turnover on downs.
The Blue Jay offense got the ball with fifty-eight seconds left before halftime with the ball on the Iowa Wesleyan twenty-yard line. Senior running back Taylor Dobbins (Laurie, Mo. / Versailles) ran thru the Tigers' front line for a six-yard gain on first down. With the ball on the fourteen-yard line, the Tigers would call timeout and regroup. Dobbins would rush for four more yards on the 2nd and 3rd down. The Blue Jays called timeout with the ball at the six-yard line. On third down, Davidson found a fellow freshman, tight end Kelton Virtue (Camdenton, MO / Camdenton) on an out route near the goal line, Virtue would slip as he made a move back inside and extended trying to score as he was brought to the ground. He was called down short at the one-yard line, with the clock still running the Blue Jays hurried back to the line and Davidson tried a QB sneak and was denied at the goal line. The Blue Jays could not run another play before time ran out. Westminster headed to the locker room after failing to score on back-to-back plays. They would trail Iowa Wesleyan 13-0 at halftime.
The Blue Jays received the ball to start the second half of play. The offense would get the ball to near midfield but was forced to punt. On the punt attempt, there would be a bad snap, and the Blue Jay punter Dawson Brandt (Eldon, Mo. / Eldon) tried to make the most of it but the play would cause a turnover on downs.
The Tiger offense took over at the Blue Jay forty-one-yard line. They worked the ball down to the Blue Jay eight-yard line and then would punch it in on an eight-yard run. After the extra point, the Tigers led 20-0.
Iowa Wesleyan would score again at the start of the fourth quarter to take a commanding 27-0 lead. The third quarter ended with them at the goal line after a long drive that started at midfield. The Blue Jays refusing to lie down and be shut out in the back-to-back weeks would find the end zone for the first time this season with twelve minutes left to play. The Blue Jays got the ball at the Iowa Wesleyan eleven-yard line after an interception by senior cornerback Robert Anthony (Herrin, IL / Herrin). Davidson would find Virtue again and this time he would score the Blue Jays' first touchdown of the season and of their young careers making the score 27-6. Westminster would have the extra point attempt blocked. The Tigers would pile it on scoring two more times in the final ten minutes and win 41-6.
The Blue Jays fall to 0-2 on the season. They will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to take on Sewanee. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM.
