The Wartburg football team scored nine touchdowns and two field goals for a decisive 69-14 American Rivers Conference title win against Loras Saturday, Nov. 16 in Walston-Hoover Stadium in Waverly, earning the Knights a NCAA playoff bid.
It is the Knights’ (9-1 overall, 8-0 American Rivers) third straight conference title under fourth-year head coach Chris Winters.
Wartburg will have a first-round bye and will host the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (9-1) in the second round of the NCAA Division 3 playoffs at noon on Saturday, Nov. 30.
Loras ends the season 2-8, 2-6 in conference.
Nine different Knights scored touchdowns. That’s the most — by one — in a single game in the 21st century.
The Knights passed for 211 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Carter Markham helped gain the most ground, passing for 104 yards on seven completions. Quarterback Leo Dodd threw for 38 yards on two touchdown passes; Carter Henry caught one for 25 yards with 1:53 left in the second, and Max Solis caught one for 13 yards with 12:51 left in the third. Quarterback Riley Richards hurled the ball 69 yards on two passes, connecting with Matthew Hilleman for a 61-yard reception score with 8:04 left in the game.
Wartburg had 204 yards rushing with Richards running in a 34-yard touchdown with 2:07 left in the third.
The team’s five other TD runs were for fewer than 10 yards each. In the first quarter, Carter Markham had a 3-yard TD run with 12:04 left; Ben Bryant ran one in 4 yards with 6:27 left. In the second, Dawson Rud ran one in 6 yards with 5:09 left; Tucker Kinney ran one in 5 yards with 3:46 left. In the fourth, Levi Pingel ran it in from 3 yards with 5:21 left to close the game 69-14.
The two other scores came from Cael O’Neill field goals during the second quarter – a 33-yard field goal with 11:28 left and a 22-yard field goal with 8:08 left, for three points each.
O’Neill set a new school record with nine PATs, surpassing the previous single-game mark of eight set by Kain Eagle in 2019, which O’Neill has tied five times.
Knights making first career touchdowns were Levi Pingel, Tucker Kinney, Matthew Hilleman and Max Sollis along with Riley Richards, who threw his first career touchdown pass.
On defense, Jake Walker had a career-high 12 tackles, and Mac Watts made 10 tackles. Wartburg had nine tackles-for-loss, a season high.
Jake Walker had his first career fumble recovery, and Grant McCallips had his first career interception.
This is the 17th Wartburg football appearance in the NCAA playoffs, and the program is 17-16 in the playoffs. The Division III bracket is at .
