Waldorf crushes Lions, closes out season
By Aaron Schneider
ELLENDALE, N.D. – The Waldorf College football team crushed Trinity Bible College, cruising to a 52-3 victory in the final game of the season on Saturday.
“We talked about trying to finish on a positive note and we did that, which was good,” Waldorf coach Kent Anderson said.
The Warriors (3-7) erupted for 42 second-quarter points and 602 yards of total offense in the rout.
“We executed pretty well,” Anderson said. “We were very basic. We went back to fundamentals on both sides of the ball to finish the season being fundamentally size.”
Waldorf didn’t hesitate to run the ball, rushing on 43 of its 59 offensive plays. The Warriors racked up 335 yards on the ground and received contributions from seven different ball carriers.
“It was good to see us rush the ball and do some of the simple things,” Anderson said.
Freshman Kevin Pollock led Waldorf with 99 rushing yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Julian Ampaw powered forward for 79 yards and two TDs while freshman Cale Crowder ran for 63 yards.
“We just tried to be simple,” Anderson said. “We talked about doing the little things by finishing the year with alignment, stances, hustle and things like that. We distributed the ball pretty well in the run game and the kids ran hard.”
The Warriors proved to be effective when going to the air, completing 14-of-16 passes (87.5 percent) for 289 yards. Freshman Brandon Butts, sophomore Cody Smith and junior Isaac Sanchez each got to took snaps under center for Waldorf.
Butts was a perfect 8-for-8, passing for 236 yards and two TDs. He also rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown.
“Brandon threw the ball as well as I’ve seen him throw it,” Anderson said.
Smith completed 4-of-6 passes (66.7 percent) for 33 yards and also scrambled for 39 yards. Sanchez completed his only two passes for 20 yards.
Junior Vybert Greene turned in the top receiving performance for the Warriors, hauling in a 75-yard TD pass.
Waldorf junior LaMont Johnson provided 57 yards on two receptions, including a 36-yard TD reception. Senior Clayton Colquhoun hauled in a team-high four receptions for 33 yards. Ampaw caught a 43-yard pass while senior Stephon McClendon contributed a 42-yard reception.
Freshman Jacob Louisius provided points for the Warriors as he returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown. Senior Preston Landon and sophomore D’Angelo Tucker also came away with interceptions to halt the Lions (0-10).
Junior Rigo Verdin led Waldorf as he recorded five tackles, including a sack and another for a loss. Verdin also recovered a fumble that set up Waldorf six yards from Trinity Bible’s end zone.
Landon and Louisius also provided five tackles each for the Warriors. Senior Jamaar Crayton and junior Christian Riccabona contributed four tackles as well. Also adding sacks for the Warriors were Riccabona, freshmen Patrick Harris and Josh Sauren.
Waldorf junior Dustin Wilke converted a 32-yard field goal and was a perfect 7-for-7 on point-after attempts.
The Lions scored their only points courtesy of a 22-yard field goal from Tyler Lightbody with 3 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the first quarter. From there, the Warriors responded with 52 unanswered points.
Trinity Bible was limited to 209 yards of offense, accounting for 133 yards through the air and just 76 yards on the ground.
Donovon Flaherty led the Lions, completing 11-of-21 passes for 92 yards and two interceptions. Trevor Taylor went 4-of-11, passing for 41 yards and an interception.
Trinity Bible’s Thomas Parsons rushed for 82 yards. Jalin Bishop caught five passes to lead the Lions’ receiving corps with 49 yards, Tanner Twigg added 41 yards on four receptions and Jimmy Taylor finished with 39 yards on three receptions.
Whether it was the offensive line paving the way for ball carriers or making stops on the defensive end, Waldorf looked to fine-tune the details of its all-around game plan in the final contest of the season.
“Blocking, tackling, alignment and assignment were what we wanted to concentrate on to end the year,” Anderson said. “That is exactly where we’ll start spring ball is with those simple things.”
Darnell Colvin, Joshua Forrest, Tevin Padgett, Cordell Black, Darius McMillan, Wade Huett, Tanner Roush, Adam Buehler, Anthony Romualdo, Everett Frazier, Jonathan Black, Evince Dossous, Wilke, Landon, Colquhoun and Crayton concluded their careers with the Warriors.
“This was their chance to leave us with a W,” Anderson said. “They left us with something to build on and I’m happy that they did that. They said some nice words to the team and left us with a nice win, which is very, very important.”
With a young team and several key returners looking to make an impact next year, the Warriors are hoping to build on the season-ending win as they prepare for the offseason and the 2016 campaign.
“It’s a good way to end the year,” Anderson said. “If you want to end on a positive note and you do, it carries you forward into the offseason.”