Nebraska Wesleyan, trailing by a point with 1:36 left Saturday, scored two touchdowns in the most stunning fashion to top Midland Lutheran 26-13 before some 2,000 fans at Abel Stadium.
“We know our defense is going to get us the ball, all we have to do is score with it,” said Wesleyan quarterback Matt Hagge. “We missed some earlier chances, but we weren’t going to quit before the full 60 minutes had been played and we kept pushing.”
Wesleyan pushed over and over.
Trailing 13-12 with 1:36 left and no timeouts, Hagge ran for 2 yards. Then he ran for 3 yards. The next play, he threw the ball way out of bounds.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
“It was OK,” the NWU senior said. “We’ve been in close games all year.”
So, on fourth-and-5, he ran, picking up 7 yards and the first down with 1:04 left.
Hagge then hit Bryce Weaver on a 20-yard pass, threw another pass away, and found Mike Millard on a crossing pattern for a 29-yard touchdown with 36 seconds remaining.
Not to be outdone, the Wesleyan defense added a score as time ran out when Tony Terp took a tipped ball from teammate Jake Riha, and scored on a 20-yard fumble return after Midland tried the “Cal vs. Stanford band” play on fourth-and-10.
Millard, a senior from Lincoln Pius X, said the touchdown pass was five years coming.
“I hadn’t caught a touchdown pass since the game winner in the state championship in 2005 in Memorial Stadium. This one, I just had to catch, because I knew the ball would be there. That’s Matt Hagge at the best he’s been.”
The victory helped Wesleyan (5-3) tie Midland (5-3) in the Great Plains Athletic Conference standings.
Darious Bentley returned the opening kickoff 84 yards to give Midland the lead.
Wesleyan could only manage a 27-yard Zach Egger field goal until Hagge hit Ben Iske on a 6-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Egger tacked on another field goal to give NWU a 12-9 lead. The Prairie Wolves moved the ball behind the 111-yard rushing effort of Kory Kahlandt, who has run for 100 yards or more in five consecutive games.
Midland took the lead and control of the game when quarterback John Faulkner scored on a 13-yard run to end an impressive 15-play drive that put the Warriors ahead 13-12 with 7:29 left.
“We were doing everything we were supposed to do,” said Midland coach Casey Thiele, whose team lost to Wesleyan on a last-second touchdown a year ago. “We blocked the field goal and got them off the field but we couldn’t get a first down and gave them another chance. They took advantage, and like we did on our long drive, converted on fourth down — made big plays when it mattered.”
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