INDIANA, USA — It was a tale of two games for the Indiana college football teams in the NAIA playoffs on Saturday.
The Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs with a 24-21 win over Morningside. Meanwhile, the Marian University Knights fell to St. Xavier 31-21, bringing their 2023 season to a close.
With their win over Morningside, Indiana Wesleyan is now set to face Kentucky's Georgetown College at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 2.
Wildcats quarterback Xander Stokes put up incredible passing numbers in Saturday afternoon's win. Stokes completed 26 out of 42 of his passes for 340 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks. The Wildcats' defense picked off Morningside backup quarterback Lennx Brown twice and sacked starting quarterback Zack Chevalier once.
Morningside featured a much hotter running game than Indiana Wesleyan. The Wildcats only managed 84 net rushing yards while Morningside had no problem racking up 276 net rushing yards.
Indiana Wesleyan won the game with a big, 62-yard drive early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Stokes found Isaac Smith in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats just their second lead of the game.
The Marian Knights entered their game against St. Xavier hoping to advance to the quarterfinals for the third year in a row. Unfortunately for the Knights, it wasn't meant to be.
The two teams were relatively even during the first quarter. St. Xavier scored first on a four-yard touchdown pass before Marian responded with a two-yard touchdown run by Drew Byerly.
St. Xavier dominated the second and third quarters, holding the Knights scoreless through 30 pivotal minutes of gameplay all while racking up 17 unanswered points.
Marian entered the fourth quarter down 24-7 and in desperate need of some points. St. Xavier shrunk Marian's win chances with Amari Venerable's 4-yard touchdown run off a two-play drive.
With under a minute left, Marian quickly scored twice, but simply ran out of time at the end. The Knights ended their season with a 9-2 record.
