Football Shutout By No. 2 Morningside
HASTINGS, NE- Despite a promising start to their first drive, the Hastings College football team could not keep the No. 2 Morningside Mustangs at bay on Saturday, falling to the Mustangs 65-0 at Lloyd Wilson Field.
Griffin Roberts (SO/Fort Collins, CO) started the first drive of the game for the Broncos (2-3, 0-3 GPAC) with an 8-yard pass to Jordan Johnson (SR/Spring Valley, CA) before carrying the two yards needed to get the first down. On a 3-and-9 pass, Roberts slung the ball 46 yards down the field in attempts to connect with Johnson, but it was intercepted by the Mustangs who took it the 88 yards for the 10-yard Trent Solsma pass to Austin Johnson to put the Mustangs ahead 7-0.
After the touchdown, Morningside carried the momentum throughout the rest of the first half, holding Hastings to only one more first down while scoring on a 14-yard Connor Niles receiving touchdown and a 33-yard hand off touchdown to Anthony Sims for a 21-0 lead.
Facing a 35-0 deficit with 9:08 left in the first half, the Broncos looked poised to cut into Morningside's lead with Cole Fisher (SR/Omaha, NE) returning a squib kick for nine yards to set up Tahj Willingham (SR/Denver, CO) with his 9-yard carry for the second first down of the drive. The Broncos were able to push that far, but got sent back on a negative play before Alex Stogdill (SR/Lincoln, NE) had to punt.
Morningside was able to score another touchdown seconds before halftime to make it a 49-0 Mustang lead.
On their first drive of the second half, Hastings showed potential again when Clark Livingston (SR/San Juan Capistrano, CA) connected with Xavier McGuire (SR/Queen Creek, AZ) for a 13-yard pass and a first down, but the Broncos offense stalled again.
Despite a 19-yard Solsma-to-Jared Myers receiving touchdown, Hastings was able to force a pair of stops against the Mustangs in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter also had moments of shining for the Hastings defense, stopping the Mustangs in all but one of their drives when they were able to hold Morningside to just a 25-yard field goal.
Morningside had one final scoring play when they blocked a punt from the 34-yard line and took it to the house to make it the eventual 65-0 final score.
Hastings was outgained 682-to-98 by Morningside.
The Broncos will look to return to .500 on the season when they take on in-state rival Doane in Crete on Saturday. Kickoff against the Tigers is slated for 1 p.m. CST.
