Augustana football buzzes past NSU in home opener

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AUGUSTANA) — The Gunnar Hensley and Jack Fisher connection dominated while the defense flew around the field as the Augustana Vikings (2-1 overall, 2-0 NSIC) claimed a 41-7 victory over the Northern State Wolves (0-4, 0-3) on Saturday afternoon. The home-opening win moves the Vikings to 12-3 in home openers at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.

Fisher finished with six catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing a touchdown pass. Hensley threw for 358 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions on 28 of 35 passing. The Vikings had a collective effort as three different players threw passes, with all throwing touchdowns, and 15 different players caught passes in the win.

Six different Vikings totaled at least a half of a sack, led by Gradee Sherman . Sherman closed the day with five tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss. Haden Wallace paced Viking defenders with seven tackles and a sack. Logan Leonard recorded an interception for the second consecutive game and JayVian Farr hauled in his first INT of the season.

Hensley came out firing early, completing three of his first four passes for 63 yards to get the Vikings inside the 10-yard line. After a Grand run got AU inside the five, trickery helped them find the end zone as Fisher threw a four-yard pass to a wide-open Hensley to open the scoring.

After three consecutive drives ended with a punt, the Vikings marched down the field again. A Rashad Lampkin 14-yard rush got the offense rolling and the drive closed with a reversal of the first touchdown as Hensley found Fisher near the front corner of the end zone for a 28-yard score to grow the AU lead to 13-0 on their final first quarter drive.

The Vikings added to their lead two plays into the second quarter. Max Grand opened the quarter with a 12-yard run and Isaiah Huber broke free down the left sideline for a 58-yard touchdown from Hensley to go ahead 20-0.

The offense continued to deal on their next drive as Hensley connected on all five passes for 52 yards and Ryan Kenny had a five yard run to move the offense down the field, ending the drive with another touchdown to Fisher, this time for 16 yards, to take a 27-0 lead with under eight minutes to go in the first half.

Augustana capped off its first half scoring on the very next drive. An early third down was converted on an 18-yard completion to Max Minor and Matt Francis followed with a 44-yard reception to get the offense down to the 8-yard line.

After a sack moved the Vikings to a 3rd-and-10 situation, Hensley found Austin Johnston up the middle of the field for a 10-yard touchdown pass. It was the first touchdown in Johnston’s career. The Wolves found the end zone with just under a minute left in the half to bring the score to 34-7 into the locker room.

Johnston finished the first half with 41 punt return yards that helped the Vikings get in favorable situations. Hensley went 20 for 24 with 325 yards and four touchdowns and AU outgained the Wolves 370-70 in the first half.

Neither team could get much going in a third quarter that did not see a point get added to the scoreboard. Each team had four first downs while the Vikings milked away nine minutes and 11 seconds of the game clock.

On the final full drive of the game for Augustana, a pair of firsts were achieved. Mack Molander led a nine play, 45-yard drive that contained his first career completion and ended with his first career touchdown pass, finding Sam Scholten for Scholten’s first career touchdown to bring the game to its final score.

Grand ran for 41 yards on nine carries to lead the ground game while Lampkin added 30 yards on five carries. Molander ended 4 of 5 for 44 yards and a touchdown while Scholten was on the receiving end of four passes for 48 yards and the score.

Kade Lynott finished the game with five tackles, two for loss, and a sack while the defense held a normally effective NSU ground game to just 37 yards rushing.

The Vikings return to I-29 next weekend, buzzing up to Moorhead for a September 28 matchup against MSU Moorhead. Kickoff is set for noon.

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