MARION, Ind. – No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan football celebrated Senior Day in Wildcat Football Stadium on Saturday against Lawrence Tech in their final game of the regular season. The Wildcats earned their tenth victory of the season, 58-10, securing the outright Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) Mideast Championship. IWU wins their third-consecutive title and an automatic bid to the NAIA Football Championship Series.


 

THE ESSENTIALS

 

• Location: Marion, Ind. | Wildcat Football Stadium
• Records: IWU: 10-1 | LTU: 2-8
• NAIA Top-25 Ranking: IWU - #3 | LTU – Unranked

 

FIRST QUARTER

 

• Lawrence Tech's first drive of the game ended in a missed 42-yard field goal.
• Roosevelt Cage got the Wildcats on the scoreboard first after capping off an 8-play 70-yard drive with a goal line score.
• Lawrence Tech responded immediately to even the score at 7-7 with a 60-yard breakout run by D'Vaun Bentley.

 

SECOND QUARTER

 

• IWU marched down the field 72 yards and Roosevelt Cage bulldozed his way into the endzone to put IWU up 14-7.
• After a 3-and-out stop for the defense, Cage broke free on the first play of the drive for a 64-yard touchdown run for his third score of the first half.
• Caleb Williams ended a LTU drive with a four-yard sack.
• Myles Cox returned the punt 37 yards to set up great field position for IWU. Kyle Antoine made it 28-7 two passes later on a 13-yard pass to Isaac Smith.
• Antoine connected with Smith for the second time in the quarter as Indiana Wesleyan extended their lead to 35-7.
• Anthony Cheesebourgh and Robbie Hunter both registered sacks just before halftime.

 

THIRD QUARTER

 

• Cage outdid himself with his second long touchdown run of the game; this time for season-long 75 yards.
• Preston Sykes and Drake Deshetsky got a 4^th down stop on a five-yard loss.
• Arjun Lothe found Myles Cox in the red zone for a two-yard touchdown to put IWU up 48-10.
• Khalique Holland picked off the Blue Devils late in the third quarter for his first interception of the year.

 

FOURTH QUARTER

 

• Connor Yates got to the quarterback for his first sack of the year.
• Brady Miller scored his first rushing touchdown of the year from 12 yards out as IWU went up 55-10.
• Ethan Dutra forced a fumble on IWU's fifth sack of the day and Arlondo Sheets scooped it up.
• Jack Doty sent a field goal through the uprights from 28 yards to make it 58-10.

 

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

 

• Roosevelt Cage set a new single-season program record with his 16^th rushing touchdown of the year. He finished with 218 yards and a season-high four touchdowns on 15 carries for a 14.5-yard average per rush.
• Isaac Smith also set a new single-season program record with his 13^th receiving touchdown of the year. He caught eight receptions for 99 yards and two scores.
• Kyle Antoine went 13-for-21 for 167 yards with two passing touchdowns. Arjun Lothe went 12-for-16 for 129 yards and one touchdown.

 

DEFENSIVE LEADERS

 

• Drake Deshetsky and Luke Bays led the defense with 8 total tackles each.
• Antonie White had a team-high three tackles for loss and two pass breakups at the line of scrimmage.
• Five different Wildcats recorded a sack.

 

SPECIAL TEAMS STANDOUTS

 

• Josh Clifton went 6-7 on PAT's without attempting a field goal. Jack Doty made his one field goal attempt from 28 yards.
• Clifton averaged 57.1 yards on eight kickoff attempts and Doty averaged 62.5 yards on two attempts.
• Jaden Downs averaged 39.7 yards on his three punts with a long of 41.
• Myles Cox totaled 102 yards on his four punt returns with one going for a season-high 48 yards.

 

STATS COMPARISON

 

• The Wildcats totaled 31 first downs compared to 14 by Lawrence Tech.
• The team rattled off 303 rushing yards (9.2 per attempt) compared to 139 (3.0 per attempt) to the visitors.
• Overall, IWU registered 616 yards compared to 241 by LTU.
• The defense held Lawrence Tech to 5-22 on third down and 2-5 on fourth down.

 

RODE PERSPECTIVE

 

• "I am so proud of the seniors and all they have accomplished this year and throughout their career," said Andrew Rode, Head Football Coach. "An outright conference championship was the perfect way to finish their regular season."

 

WHAT THE WIN MEANS

 

• IWU has won the outright MSFA Mideast Championship with an undefeated record of 5-0 in the league.

 

LOOKING FORWARD

 

• The Wildcats will learn their postseason future during the NAIA Selection Show on Sunday evening at 7:00PM ET.
• Fans can watch the Selection Show by clicking HERE.

 

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS

 

• Follow Athletics (@IWUWildcats): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Follow Football (@IndWesleyan_FB): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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