Pride suffer road loss to Graceland
LAMONI, Iowa - Returning to the road for their first game away from Dubquue and Dalzell Field in over a month, the Clarke University football team fell by a 49-7 final score to Graceland University on Saturday afternoon.
The Yellowjackets got on the board early with a quick-strike two-play drive as quarterback Cade Ross hit Kristian Constantine on a 53-yard touchdown pass in just 36 seconds to open the game up 7-0.
Clarke did a good job on defense to hold GU off the board for the rest of the first quarter despite their next three drives getting into CU territory but Graceland did take a 14-0 lead on a 16-yard pass from Ross to Felix Wade.
The Pride would make a change at quarterback as Brandon Mueller would spell Kenyon Williams and in Mueller's first drive, he led the offense down the field first completing a pass to Jayden Wyer for 36 yards then finding Isaac Guerrero for a 16-yard touchdown pass as it would be a 14-7 lead for GU with 7:24 remaining in the first half.
Mueller would suffer an injury later in the game to only finish 2-of-6 with 52 yards and the touchdown strike as Williams would play the remainder of the game after getting the call for his second-straight start but struggled to finish only with 55 yards on 5-for-18 passing and two interceptions.
It would be all Yellowjackets from that point on as they would answer with two scoring drives to end the half at 28-7 on two more touchdown passes from Ross as he found Adarius Thomas and Reggie Wilson on five and 12-yard passes repsectively.
Ross would add two more touchdown strikes in the second half with Constantine and Wison catching their second each for the Graceland signal caller to finish with a final stat line of 21-41 for 289 yards and six touchdowns with a pair of interceptions while Wilson led the way for the receiving corps with eight catches for 119 yards and a pair of touchdown catches.
Craig Elmore abnd Jaden Warren combined for 133 rushing yards on 29 carries for the CU rushing offense and Riley Hawkins had 134 kick return yards on five chances to return kickoffs with a long of 32 after having a strong showing last week on kick return.
Clarke football will play their final road game of the 2023 season a week from Saturday when they head to Peru, Neb. to face Peru State College on Nov. 4 for a 1:00 p.m. CT kickoff against the Bobcats.