By Adam Teut
A year ago, circumstances were about the same for the Morningside football program. The Mustangs look back on a year when they finished 10-2 with two losses by identical scores.
This year both losses were dealt by the defending national champions, the Sioux Fall Cougars, 49-21, who are aiming to improve their chances of repeating this Saturday in the semifinals.

In the first round of the playoffs, the ‘Stangs hosted the 11th ranked Missouri Valley Vikings in a defensive battle ending in a 24-6 victory. This was the fifth, first-round win in a row for the then 7th ranked Mustangs.


• Photos: Morningside's 24-6 playoff win over Missouri Valley College

The win was studded by strong defensive play which included six sacks, one by Brett Nickolite for 10 yards lost, one and a half by Marshall Tuttle for 12 yards, one by John Kirwan for 10 yards, one half by Travis Uleman for yards yards, one by Marshall Barney for five yards, and one by Vernon Moore for nine yards. Ryan Klein topped the tackle charts with 10, followed by Nickolite who had seven solos and two assisted.

Marshall Tuttle tallied up five solos, three assisted, and a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown which put the dagger in the heart of the Missouri Valley team. “I knew at that point in the game, the offense was struggling and the defense needed to step up and make a big play,” said Tuttle. “When I intercepted it, my teammates found a block and I was able to get to the sideline and take it in for the touchdown. It was a huge confidence booster and really swung the momentum in our favor.”

Picking up the rest of the slack were Mike Buckley, who racked up nine tackles, and Ben Rickord record seven solos. Missouri Valley may have put the first points on the board and played tough defense, but Beau Kildow put Morningside back in the game in the second quarter with a spectacular punt return for a touch down from 84 yards out.

The offense was without scoring until the fourth quarter when CJ Gradoville drilled in a 29-yard field goal, and Tim Richard sealed the quarterfinal bid with a nine-yard keeper for a touchdown. The Vikings held Jake Peterson to 80 yards on the ground and a team total rushing effort to just 88 yards. Richard was 14 of 29 on the day for 194 yards and was sacked twice. Kildow, the Academic All-America of the Year award winner for colleges and Campbell Trophy finalist, caught eight passes for 143 yards on the day.

In the quarterfinals, the Cougars defeated the Mustangs again by the same score from three weeks earlier. At half time the Cougars led 31-14 hitting pay-dirt on five out of six possessions in the first half. The Mustang defense forced only two punts all day, and picked up a fumble and an interception by Klein. Klein led the team in tackles with 10 solos and two assisted.

Riley Tusha racked up six solos as did Tuttle and Nickolite. Tuttle had two sacks for a total of 20 yards lost and Nickolite got a sack for a five-yard loss. Ben Haugen totaled three solo tackles, all for a total loss of eight yards. Justin Taylor tallied two solo stops for a loss, and Buckley snuck in a tackle for a two yard loss.

Overall it was a tough battle for the defense, “Sioux Falls does so many different things offensively and has so many offensive weapons that it makes it hard for any defense to slow them down,” adds Tuttle. “They have a great team this year and I am looking forward to playing them for the last time next year.”

The offense struggled to move the ball with five drives ending in punts, three in interceptions, two on downs, and one by fumble. It was certainly not the day fans expected to see after watching the Mustangs march down the field on their opening drive ending in a 26-yard Richard touchdown pass to Brad Norwood.

They did not score again until midway through the second quarter when Richard connected with the wide open Joel Nixon on a 62-yard score. The offense looked to gain some hope after the Cougars fumbled their opening second half drive which resulted in a Richard pass to Chad Buchholz for a six-yard touchdown.

The run game was stagnant with Peterson only gaining 76 yards and Richard adding 12 with a team total of 95. Richard was 15 of 37 with three interceptions, three touchdowns, 230 yards, and was sacked once.

Offensive tackle Jon Rumery felt that his team did a great job at running the ball, but, “When you get to the playoffs everyone is good. We were good at running the ball this year and those good teams knew if they could stop the run, they would have a chance at beating us.” (Dec. 3)