DESTINATION DAYTONA SEMIFINALS Daytona Date – Overtime thriller sends Mustangs to championship game SIOUX CITY, IOWA – The number 329 will go down in Morningside College lore. Morningside College’s household passing combination of senior quarterback Trent Solsma and senior wide receiver Connor Niles had increased their career connection total to 328 to the joy and delight of Mustang fans near and far by the latter stages of the 3:00 p.m. hour Saturday, Dec. 1. So, head coach Steve Ryan and his staff went back to the option on an overtime possession in the 2018 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Championship Series semifinals. As time seemingly stopped and breaths were collectively drawn among 2000 fans packed into Elwood Olsen Stadium on a snowy afternoon, Solsma took the snap, looked right and then left and sent a spiral to the left corner of the west end zone. Niles turned away from a University of St. Francis of Indiana defender and grabbed it tightly with two hands as he stepped inside the pylon, breaking back-to-back seasons of heartbreak against their current opponent and cinching the program’s first national championship berth since 2012 in the wake of a 34-28 victory. “Honestly, I was fortunate to be able to be a part (of that play),” Niles, the game’s Offensive Player of the Game, remarked still holding on to the football as fans and friends high-fived and hugged their way to him and all of the Maroon-clad student-athletes and coaches gathered near midfield at game’s
conclusion. “Our defense made so many great stands in the second half. When they held (St. Francis) on their overtime try and the kick was missed, the defensive coordinator looked at us and said we need to go out and score now.” “You don’t get a lot of chances to try and do something three times … we talked about the fact we needed to cash in on this opportunity (against St. Francis),” he added. “I can’t ask for much more than this feeling.” “We felt we had something (with that play),” Ryan noted. “We just had to block their defensive line who had been making things difficult. Sophomore running back AP “AP” Ponder stepped up and created enough protection. Once that happened, Trent throwing to Connor was something obviously we were comfortable with.” The 25-yard touchdown wrapped up a heart-stopping afternoon of drama. The Mustangs, as has been a trademark throughout 2018, jumped out quickly. After junior wide receiver Bo Els narrowly missed taking the opening kickoff to the house, Solsma hit Niles down the left side for a 50-yard touchdown just 14 seconds in. Holding number eight-ranked Cougars on their opening attempt, Solsma and company went back to work and found the end zone again with a 30-yard six-point connection to senior wide receiver Addison Ross to make it 14-0. The two sides each added a touchdown later in the frame, with the Mustangs’ end zone appearance occurring on a 17-yard scamper by Ponder, for a 21-7 Mside lead at the end of 15 minutes. The visitors, looking to add to their back-to-back national championship status, buckled down from that point. Riding a potent arm of their own in quarterback Matt Crable, the University of St. Francis answered with a 21-7 run of its own over the final three periods of regulation. Crable threw for two more touchdowns for three on the day, while Solsma and Niles were the order for the Maroon score. Between those four touchdowns, both sides were turned away by stubborn defensive units which included junior defensive back Deion Clayborne and Morningside. “(Defensive coordinator Casey Jacobsen) kept telling us to just do our jobs knowing that our offense would get going again after the fast start,” Clayborne said. “We have one of the best
