Iowa Wesleyan comes up just short in opener

MT. PLEASANT — Iowa Wesleyan’s season opener was a battle on Monday at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex. The Tigers put Tabor College to the test, but a few mistakes down the stretch led to a tough loss.

The Tigers held a fourth-quarter lead in the season’s first game, but it wasn’t meant to be, as Tabor’s late comeback led the Bluejays past the Tigers 17-13.

“We left a lot of plays on the field today,” said Tiger head coach MD Daniels.

The first half was a defensive stale mate for 30 minutes. The two squads traded stops and punts for the opening two quarters, with the only score being a Tabor College safety in the first quarter.

The Tigers nearly took the lead at the end of the first half. After nearly 30 full minutes of frustration, the Tiger offense busted out with an 85-yard pass from Gavin Esquivel to Tyler Ball, a pass and catch that put the Tigers in business at the 1-yard line.

Unfortunately for the Tiger offense, they wouldn’t push it in. On the second play from the 1-yard line, the Bluejays forced a fumble and fell on the ball, ending the Tigers’ threat and putting a rare 2-0 halftime lead on the scoreboard.

The Iowa Wesleyan offense picked up in a big way at the start of the third. Esquivel came out firing on a 71-yard touchdown drive that ended on a 29-yard touchdown reception by Asaivien McWilliams. Just like that, the Tigers led 7-2.

“We picked it up in the second half, but you can't play halves of football,” said Daniels. “You've got to play a complete game.”

Iowa Wesleyan led 10-2 after a 30-yard field goal by Lucas Mosqueda a few minutes later, but Tabor cut it back to just two points with a 16-yard touchdown pass at the end of the period. After three quarters of play, Iowa Wesleyan held a 10-8 lead.

The lead changed hands three times in the final 15 minutes. Tabor College went up 11-10 on a 42-yard field goal with 14:46 to play. The Tigers drove down on the next possession and went back up 11-13 on a 32-yard field goal by Mosqueda, but Tabor had one more score left in them.

With 5:56 left in the game, Tabor capped off a 73-yard go-ahead drive, which included a successful fake punt, with a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Gustavo Villare. The extra point made it 17-13 Bluejays, and the Tigers’ backs were against the wall.

Iowa Wesleyan had two drives late in the fourth to try and get the lead back, but neither panned out. The first ended in another lost fumble, and the second ended when a pass from Esquivel to Ball fell innocently to the turf on 4th and 10 in the waning seconds of the contest.

Esquivel went 23-for-49 with 393 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in the loss. Jaden Harris led the receiving corps with four catches for 113 yards. Ball finished with three catches for 101. The team rushed for a negative net total.

The Tiger defense was led in tackles by Major Niccu, who racked up 15 takedowns on the day. Gavin DePedro had 12. Jaheem Hampton picked off one pass, and Jarius Evans both forced and scooped up a fumble, which he returned for 48 yards.

The Tigers will be on the road for the next two weekends. Iowa Wesleyan plays at Missouri Baptist on Sept. 3, and at Westminster College on Sept. 10.

“We're taking this as a learning lesson,” said Daniels. “There's a lot of new pieces, so we're going to get back to the drawing board on Monday and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”