Pride football outlasted by Missouri Valley in 44-20 road loss
MARSHALL, Mo. – The Clarke University football team dropped their second game to start the season by a final score of 44-20 in Marshall, Mo. on Saturday afternoon.
A game that was played a lot closer than the final score would indicate, the Vikings used big plays on offense and stout rush defense to keep the Pride at bay for most of the game as Clarke never held a lead but tied the game at one point during the first half.
Missouri Valley turnovers kept Clarke around despite a major discrepancy in offensive yardage at 618-234 in favor of the Vikings. With that, MVC turned it over five times with four interceptions and a lost fumble.
The first half was a game of momentum swings as the Vikings came out of the gate swinging, scoring on their first-two possessions of the game to go up 14-0 within the first nine minutes of the game.
Big plays spelled doom for the Pride defense as the first MVC touchdown came on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Darrion Cole to Kenneth Sanford at the 12:03 mark. Another 40-plus yard play set up Missouri Valley on the one yard line where Jeremiah Bryant would eventually run it in from a yard out to make it 14-0.
It was back-to-back empty offensive possessions for the CU offense so the defense stepped up a made a play to swing the momentum onto the side of the Pride. Linebacker Chase Hartweg made a leaping interception of Daniel Jackson deep in MVC territory to give Clarke good field position.
All it took for Clarke to get into the end zone for their first score of the game was three Craig Elmore rushes of 12, four, and four yards to get the running back into the end zone to cut the lead in half at 14-7 heading into the second quarter.
The first possession of the second quarter for the Pride was a two-play touchdown drive as Kenyon Williams threw a bomb to Max Steffen for a 51-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.
Following a fourth-straight defensive stop by the Clarke defense, CU's offense was forced to punt but the snap sailed over the head of Anthony Gomez out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
That play returned that first half momentum to the Vikings as they took the short field after the free-kick kickoff to start the drive from the Clarke 44. They scored their third touchdown of the game in just four plays and 36 seconds to take a 23-14 lead that they would carry in to halftime on a Bryant 17-yard rush.
An eventful third quarter that had two interceptions and two fumbles only saw one score as Missouri Valley extended their lead 30-14 on a Sanford 34-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter.
Earlier in the quarter, with the Vikings driving, a crazy play looked to be a big one for Clarke but ended up back in the hands of MVC. Johel Gonzalez intercepted Cole in Clarke territory and was returning it towards midfield when he got hit from behind and fumbled the ball where Cole eventually recovered it for the Vikings to retain possession.
Heading into the final quarter, Clarke looked to make it interesting as they went deep to Steffen again down to the MVC three yard line before Elmore scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 30-20 after a failed two-point attempt that would have made it a one-possession game.
Steffen finished as one of the two offensive highlights for the Pride with 102 receiving yards on just four receptions in the game and the one touchdown. Elmore finishing with 91 yards on the ground and the pair of touchdowns but the rest of the team finished with a net of minus-four yards rushing.
The remainder of the game was all Missouri Valley as they added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a Cole pass to Isaac Bausley then a Bryant 69-yard rush to get to the final score of 44-20.
Cole threw for 249 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and the rushing combination of Sanford and Bryant combined for 325 rushing yards and four touchdowns while Sanford added 63 receiving yards on two catches with another score.
The Pride will return home for a matchup with Central Methodist on Saturday, Sept. 11 for a 1:00 p.m. CT kickoff scheduled at Dalzell Field.