The Illinois Wesleyan University football team fell just shy of a 14-point comeback in their season opener as the Titans fell, 27-18, to Central College Saturday, Sept. 6, at Tucci Stadium.
The Green and White staggered in the first quarter, giving the Dutch a two touchdown lead in what was looking to be the start of an absolute beating by Central College.
That was until sophomore wide receiver Will Nazha broke through on a kick return to bring the Titans back to a one-possession game with a minute left in the first.
Nazha’s return brought some much needed life back to the Titans, and their standard of play went up a notch in the following drives as a result.
On the next defensive drive, IWU got their first defensive stop of the game-––a stop on fourth down, too––and didn’t slow down.
Their following offensive drive stagnated and led to a punt, but when the Dutch neared the Titan red zone, sophomore defensive back Lucas Lapin intercepted the ball to keep the Titans’ one-score deficit alive.
The teams exchanged punts until the waning seconds of the second quarter, when Dutch sophomore kicker Andrew Mohan attempted a 48-yard field goal which he missed.
The defensive stalemate kept the score at 14-7 going into halftime.
And great play continued into the third quarter.
The scoring drought was finally broken when freshman kicker AJ Vavrick nailed a 41-yard field goal to bring IWU within four points midway through the quarter.
The 41-yarder was the longest field goal by a Titan since the 2022 season, when Andrew Stange hit a 42-yarder.
But Central didn’t come to Tucci planning for a loss.
A 26-yard touchdown reception widened the gap to 21-10 with only the fourth quarter to go.
While junior quarterback Dermot Smyth helped march the Titans down the field through the air, junior running back Malik Gray took to the ground, breaking off a 21-yard gain to get the Titans to the Dutch 1-yard line, where Smyth opted to run it in himself.
A successful two-point conversion put the Titans to within three points of tying the game.
But the Titan defense, much like a Dutch cheese, had a few holes.
Twenty penalty yards along with twenty rushing and another eleven through the air put Central College in field goal distance, where they upped the score to 24-18.
On the next drive, in need of a touchdown to ice the game, the Titans faltered.
The Dutch got an interception and kicked another FG to up the score to 27-18, which would be the final score.
Overall, IWU finished with 212 yards of offense. Nazha led with six catches for 78 yards.
Fellow sophomore GB Kruzick added another five for 71 yards. Gray led the ground game with 64 yards on 16 carries.
Junior John Gavin led the Titans with 12 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, followed by junior Joey DeMaio with 11.
The Titans return to Tucci Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20, to kick off College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play. IWU hosts Elmhurst University for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
