Sioux Falls unveils another standout QB
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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
The rest of the Great Plains Athletic Conference can take cover.
After leading Sioux Falls to a 35-0 victory against Nebraska Wesleyan on Saturday, new Cougar quarterback Lorenzo Brown said “things will get a lot better now.”
Chad Cavander, the NAIA player of the year, graduated last spring. But Brown, a junior college All-American, stepped in at quarterback for the latest version of the most powerful team in small-college football over the last eight years.
“A little different look but the same results,” said Wesleyan coach Brian Keller.
Sioux Falls has two national titles, two runner-up finishes and two semifinal finishes in the last eight years. It also has won 64 of its last 65 games, losing only in the national championship game last December.
“I think we have a pretty sharp quarterback and we played pretty well for the first game,” said Sioux Falls coach Kalen DeBoer. “The only thing I wish we could address immediately is that we need to develop a killer instinct on offense. I think we’ve got that on defense.”
The Sioux Falls defense flew around the field after the first quarter.
After giving up 87 yards of offense to Wesleyan in the first 15 minutes, the Cougars held the Prairie Wolves to a total of 44 yards on 44 plays the rest of the game.
“It’s a smaller defense than they usually have but they are extremely fast and that does a lot for a defense,” Keller said.
The same kind of speed made a difference for the Sioux Falls offense. Brown, who grew up in Bristol, Conn., and played at North Iowa Community College last year, threaded passes to Scott LeBrun and Ryan Lowmiller and scrambled his way out of increasing defensive pressure. He had help, as the Sioux Falls defense blocked a punt and scored early in the game, came up with two interceptions and a fumble to set up three more scores in the first half.
Brown hit 13 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown and ran for 36 yards and two more scores in the season opener for both teams before 1,502 fans at Abel Stadium.
“They have the element of a quarterback that they didn’t have the last four or five years — a quarterback who can throw and run and that adds a different dimension to the offense,” Keller said. “And speed. They have as much or more speed than they ever had.”
Wesleyan had its moments on defense.
“Wesleyan pinned us deep in the third quarter and we never got anything done,” DeBoer said. “They pressured us and we dropped a couple of passes in the third quarter.”
Even those problems washed away when Sioux Falls ran the ball eight consecutive plays and drove 54 yards to score early in the fourth quarter.
“I had a lot of nerves going into my first game with Sioux Falls,” Brown said. “If we get connected on some of those passes I was too late with or threw too hard, I think we’ll be pretty good. Wesleyan wasn’t too complex in coverage but they really got us thinking and slowing down there in the second half.”
Jake Riha, Phil Schroer and Tony Terp led the Wolves’ defense with a combined 31 tackles, including two for loss.
“I think we’ll be all right,” Keller said. “Matt Hegge did OK for his first game as a starter at quarterback. We were missing two offensive tackles, and I still think the offensive line will be one of our strengths, it’s just going to take a little more time.”
Wesleyan travels to Mitchell, S.D., to face Dakota Wesleyan next Saturday.
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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