Record breaking day for Esquivel, Iowa Wesleyan football team

MT. PLEASANT — Iowa Wesleyan may be the birthplace of the Air Raid offense, but no Tiger quarterback had ever done what freshman quarterback Gavin Esquivel did on Saturday afternoon.

Esquivel threw a new Iowa Wesleyan record eight touchdown passes, en route to a dominating 69-28 win over Crown College, the Tigers’ first victory of the season and the first homecoming triumph since 2017.

““Everything was great out there,” Esquivel said. “My offensive line did extremely well, and guys went after the ball. It just felt great.”

Esquivel threw four touchdowns in the first half. He tossed three in the third quarter and broke the record early in the fourth when he found Damian Tanelus for a 4-yard score.

““I threw a comeback,” Esquivel said. “They gave us that the entire day, and as soon as I released it I knew my dude would make a play on the ball.”

The previous record belonged to Iowa Wesleyan Hall of Famer Dustin Dewald, who had seven touchdowns against Concordia Wisconsin in 1991.

““That’s amazing, because that’s almost a 30-year record,” said Iowa Wesleyan head coach MD Daniels. “The sky is the limit for that young man.”

The win was a special one for Daniels. It was his first home victory as head coach for the Tigers, and his second overall. The other came this spring at Westminster.

“I’m super proud of our guys,” Daniels said. “That’s a long time to not win a homecoming game. For us to do it in our first year together, that’s amazing.”

Crown scored on its first drive, but the Tigers dominated from that point forward. Iowa Wesleyan led 14-8 after the first quarter, 35-20 at halftime and 56-20 after three.

Esquivel ended the day 32-for-48 for 456 yards to go along with his eight scores. He also threw one interception.

Asaivien McWilliams had a monster day in the receiving game. He caught eight passes for 105 yards and three scores. Dmitri Rodriguez had seven catches for 105 yards. Tanelus, Shomari Wilson, Tony Brooks, Jaden Harris and Hezekiah Hunter each had one touchdown reception.

Hunter also scored once on the ground, as did James Sherman.

Rudy Criner had a team-high 11 tackles for Iowa Wesleyan. Kaden Henley and Major Niccum each had an interception.

Iowa Wesleyan is now 1-5 overall. The Tigers will have a bye before traveling to defending North Star Athletic Conference champion Dickinson State in hopes of picking up their first conference win.

But for now, the Tigers can celebrate a blowout victory, a happy homecoming and a new high for Iowa Wesleyan’s aerial assault.

“This is just one of many victorious we’re going to have in this program,” Daniels said.