Iowa Wesleyan football shut out on the road

VALLEY CITY, N.D. — Iowa Wesleyan football has had a rough last couple of weeks on the gridiron.

The Tigers were shutout at home last Saturday against Dickinson State, 23-0 and over the weekend the Tigers again could not put points on the board, falling on the road to Valley City State University 32-0.

Turnovers plagued the Iowa Wesleyan offense last week and were once again a main factor.

Iowa Wesleyan got the ball first, but on its first play from scrimmage the Tigers were picked off.

Three plays later and the Vikings punched it in for six, scoring just two minutes into the game. With the extra point, VCSU led 7-0.

On their next drive, the Tigers would fumble three plays in, giving it right back to the Vikings. They weren’t able to capitalize, but Iowa Wesleyan couldn’t find any momentum on the offensive end.

Through the rest of the first quarter, the Tigers were forced to punt two more times, while the Vikings added seven more to their total on a 13-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes to go.

Things got worse for Iowa Wesleyan to start the second quarter as VCSU forced a fumble and safety to make it a 16-0 ballgame.

Neither team could get anything going the rest of the half and Iowa Wesleyan headed into the locker room down 16.

To start the second half, VCSU got the ball.

The Vikings went 13 plays on their opening second half drive, marching all the way down to the Tiger five-yard line, but the Iowa Wesleyan defense stood strong for just a field goal to make it 19-0.

On their opening second half drive, the interception bug bit the Tigers once again. On the seventh play of the drive, the Tigers were picked off in their own territory.

VCSU capitalized on the positioning and scored on a 15-yard touchdown run four plays in making it 25-0.

Iowa Wesleyan needed to find the end zone in a hurry to get back into it, but turned the ball over on downs in each of the next two drives.

With 3:25 to go in the ballgame, the Viking scored once more to put the finishing touches on the win, 32-0.

The Tigers got one more shot to put points on the board, but fumbled four plays in.

Gavin Esquivel led the Tiger offense through the air with 128 yards. Askia Moses finished with 53 yards on the ground.

The Tigers had four turnovers on the day.

With the loss the Tigers drop to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the North Star play. Iowa Wesleyan will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 22 in Mt. Pleasant against Presentation College at 1 p.m.