Big plays tell story in high scoring affair between Pride and Yellowjackets
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Coming off of their bye week, the Clarke University football team would return to their home field to play a chaotic matchup against Graceland University to the tune of a 49-27 victory for the Yellowjackets.
In a game that saw 49 total points scored in the second half between the two teams, chunk plays and penalty flags would create the identity of Saturday afternoon's Heart of America Athletic Conference North Division faceoff as there were 13 non-kick return plays of 20 yards or longer with Graceland producing seven and the Pride busting six with eight of those plays resulting in touchdowns.
Having to settle for a pair of field goals in the first half, Clarke would hold a 3-0 lead then be down 7-6 before a pair of late second quarter Yellowjacket touchdowns would push the visiting team up 15 points in just over the last minute of the game as Gerald Monroe scored his second of three receiving touchdowns in the game with 1:13 left in the second quarter then faced with a fourth and 16 from their own 44 and 10 second left, CU would have a punt blocked and returned by the Yellowjackets to grow their lead to 21-6 by the halftime break.
Receiving the second half opening kickoff, Graceland would continue on the run they finished the first half with, scoring on a three-play 72-yard touchdown drive to open the third with a 66-yard Monroe touchdown catch and then a two-play 34-yard touchdown drive with Isiah Rivers-Rodriguez scoring on a 34-yard score following a failed CU fake punt to set up GU with a short field.
The Pride would strike next with their first touchdown of the game on a Jaden Warren two-yard run to cap off a 16-play, 69-yard drive then would cut the game to 35-19 on a Gabe Guyton 75-yard interception return for a touchdown on the ensuing Yellowjacket drive but a failed two-point conversion would keep the game at 16 points instead of 14.
On the very first play of the next drive for Graceland, running back Jamon McGlory would bust through the middle of the CU defense to score a 75-yard touchdown of his own to get GU back up three scores to 42-19 with just seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Clarke would get it back to a two-score game on a Roland Hazard Jr. 22-yard catch and run for the junior receiver's second touchdown grab of the season and third overall to make it 42-27 after a successful Malik Inabinette two-point rushing score.
The final nail in the coffin would be a 68-yard touchdown reception for Deajaun Mcdougle, the fifth touchdown pass for quarterback Cade Ross as he would finish the game with 328 yards and those five touchdown tosses with three interceptions. Ross would add 48 rushing yards to go along with McGlory's 147 on the ground while Monroe, Mcdougle, and Rivers-Rodriquez would combine for 325 receiving yards and all five touchdowns with Monroe making eight grabs for 164 yards and three scores.
Inabinette threw the touchdown pass to Hazard as he would finished 4-for-7 for 69 yards and ran for 11 yards on three carries, splitting time with Carson Estrada who went 11-for-31 for 95 yards passing.
Hazard made a career-high six catches for 97 yards, just four shy of his career-high in yardage as the tandem of Mark Edwards IV and Jaden Alveranga each had 10 rushing attempts with Edwards finishing at 74 yards in his first true game action at running back while Alveranga added 65 yards on the ground.
The Pride won the turnover battle, picking off Ross three times with the Guyton touchdown then a touchdown-preventing interception from KJ Brown in the first half and Jordan Summage jumping a screen pass for a fourth quarter turnover with Clarke also forcing an early fumble in the first quarter to finish at a plus-four turnover margin.
Penalties slowed the game down quite a bit, especially in the second half as the two teams combined for 24 accepted penalties for 286 total penalty yardage marked off as the game was chippy in nature with seven unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and four unnecessary roughness fouls called.
Clarke football will take to the road for next week's game when they travel to Oskaloosa, Iowa for a matchup against the Statesmen of William Penn University for a scheduled 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Statesmen Community Stadium.