Sam Thiel/ Winonan
The Winona State University football team put another season in the books, concluding with a 31-28 loss to Concordia University-St. Paul Saturday at Warrior Stadium.
Head coach Tom Sawyer said it was not a season to remember.
“I care mostly that our seniors didn’t have the year they thought they would,” Sawyer said. “We’ll go back to work in the weight room, but right now my heart is just broken on the year that we had.”
The game was tight with both teams being within one score the majority of the afternoon. Both teams were evenly matched in total yards, with Concordia-St. Paul recording 378 yards to 371 yards against the Warriors.
The first score of the game went to Winona State after an attempted field goal snap was botched by Alan May. He scooped up the ball, rushed to the outside, and found a wide open Obed Jean-Baptiste—whose natural position is linebacker—for a 12-yard touchdown with 8:50 left in the opening quarter.
May said he and the team were prepared for plays to take an unexpected turn.
“I just have to thank coach for it because he prepares us that way, and it paid off,” May said.
The Golden Bears would respond five minutes after with a 27-yard score of their own to knot the game at seven. Two minutes later they would strike again with a 35-yard score to give the Golden Bears a 14-7 advantage.
Winona State tied the score up again thanks to a one-yard touchdown pass from Jack Nelson to Cameron Johnson roughly halfway through the second quarter.
Concordia-St. Paul would tack on a field goal late in the same quarter to extend its advantage to 17-14 as the teams headed into the locker rooms.
The yellow flag was not the Warriors’ friend in the first half as they were penalized nine times for 101 yards. The Warriors won the total yards battle in the first half, outgaining their opponent 202 to 181.
After the Golden Bears achieved their largest lead of the afternoon, 24-14, the Warriors struck back after an acrobatic catch by Dylan Ulferts, who would take it 33 yards to the end zone and cut the deficit 24-21 at the end of the third quarter.
Concordia-St. Paul’s running back Tre Spears—who became the NSIC’s leading rusher—found the back of the end zone from 11 yards out to give the Golden Bears a 31-21 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth.
To follow, Nelson’s intended pass for Johnson was tipped and fell into May’s hands for the score—this one good for ten yards with 20 seconds left in the game to cut the deficit to a field goal.
Defensively, senior Patrick Lazzara anchored the Warriors with a career-high 15 tackles, 11 of which were in the second half while adding a couple of tackles that went for a loss.
Lazzara said, “I just wanted to take the day slow and kind of cherish everything. It was good to run around and get some good licks in. Now Saturday’s I can’t do that anymore.”
Fellow senior Ryan Gerts tacked on a tackle-for-loss while posting nine tackles to add to the Warrior effort.
Despite getting sacked five times, Nelson completed 21 of his 35 pass attempts for 229 yards and three scores. The sophomore capped off his season on the higher end of numerous single-season categories, including the third-most passing yards, completions and touchdown passes (2,843-207-27, respectively), as well as the most passing attempts (398).
Josh Mikes led the way for the receiving core, hauling in six passes for 75 yards. Mikes completed his junior season with over 1,000 yards receiving (1,025) and 13 touchdowns, tying for sixth-most in Warrior receiver history.
“It’s been a tough year,” Sawyer said. “We’ve been through a lot, but we never wavered with the kids that we have. I’m really proud of that.”
The Warriors ended their season with a 4-7 overall record.
