((ed. note- Lisa Weiss now joins our ranks as columnist, reporter, and general shenanigans chaser... she was part of the OSG crew that watched the NAIA National Championship Game on Saturday afternoon... Oh, the pictures are hers, too...))
When I was asked by my friend if I wanted to go to Rome, Georgia and watch the NAIA Football National Championship game to cover Sioux Falls I could not resist. I love football but I knew nothing about Sioux Falls other than my good friend went to school there and followed Cougar football religiously.
So like any good reporter, I started doing my homework and found out that the Cougars were gunning for their 3rd National Title in 4 years, they were undefeated, ranked #1 and outscored their opponents by an average of 44 points.
I was ready for an offensive super showdown. Their quarterback Lorenzo Brown is the teams 2nd leading rusher but he can also throw and right on the money his efficiency percentage 196.6.
I know not bad… not bad at all…
However, the first half of play against Lindenwood in the title game was anything but an offensive showing. The Cougars had possession of the ball for 19 minutes and walked away with only 8 points and the Lions leading at the half with 14.
The star on offense to me was freshman kicker Braden Wieking. A soccer player for 14 years making his football debut this season... stole the show. He was three for three including a 42 yarder and the game winning field goal. It was only fitting that the rookie kicker was named offensive player of the game.
Turnovers would haunt Brown he threw 2 interceptions including one in the end zone. Keeping his footing seemed to be a challenge that kept him off balance; “I wish I could have played a better game, I have high standards for myself and let their pressure get to me”.
In the third quarter I did see a glimpse of their scoring power, however not by the offense but special teams once again. On the opening kick off of the second half, Adam Lopez ran the race of his life 91 yards down the sideline for the TD. The Lions would quickly answer back, and within a little over 5 minutes 22 points were scored tying things up at 22 a apiece.
The Cougars took the lead with 9:50 left on the clock. At this point, I was frozen
and ready to find warmth. All I wanted for Christmas was the Cougars to run the ball and run down the clock. But nothing is ever as easy as it would seem. Sioux Falls would fumble inside the Lindenwood 25-yard line- prolonging any chance I had of defrosting. See… I am from California not South Dakota.
Therefore, unlike it feeling like summer or fall as it did to a few of the fans I talked with, it felt like the coldest winter day ever.
Oh yes, back to the game.
The Cougars defense was superb, ending any chance for the Lions to tie things up.
Brown was finally able to take a knee as USF would defend their National title by a final of 25-22.
And I was finally able to find warmth.
One last note… which I found to be a cool stat... the 20 USF seniors ended their career winning 56 games with only one loss and 3 National Titles.
((Lisa's USF friends were also sitting directly in front of the father of USF tailback Kristian Porter. Porter was subbing for Ryan Lowmiller in the last drive, but fumbled and gave the ball back to Lindenwood with 78 seconds left...
Porter's dad apparently said, "Oh, no," at the time if the fumble. But when the defense stood up one last time you can see Head COach Kalen DeBoer consoling Porter on the sidelines. DeBoer admitted in the post-game presser that they were tears of joy and relief from Porter.
Those of us at OSG HQ can only imagine what was going through the minds of father
and son... congrats to them both...)) And this is what it looks like when Jon and TBH let Lisa do all the work...
TBH debated which festive hat to wear for the occasion, and proceeded to the car to avoid any and all lingering post-game comments...
We don't blame her one bit... even if it was her first title game from the sidelines...
