Fayette, Iowa – The University of Jamestown football team battled for 60 minutes, but dropped their season opener to the Upper Iowa Peacocks by a score of 30-13 Saturday afternoon at Harms-Eischeid Stadium.
Upper Iowa, who is receiving votes to be ranked inside the top 25 in the AFCA coaches' poll, moves to 1-0 and has now won seven straight home contests. The Jimmies fall to 0-1 with NSIC play looming next weekend.
Jamestown received the opening kick, but the Peacocks forced a three-and-out on the first UJ drive. The Jimmies defense looked good on Upper Iowa's first drive as well, with two Upper Iowa rushing attempts going nowhere and an incomplete pass resulting in a three-and-out on the first drive by the home side.
However, UJ failed to get a first down again after the punt return, and then Zamar Wise had a 31-yard rushing touchdown on a fourth-and-2 and the extra point attempt put the Peacocks up 7-0 five minutes in.
On the following Jamestown drive a couple of big plays got the Jimmies on the scoreboard.
Cole Hentges connected with
Mason Whitley for a 27-yard pass and then Hentges himself rushed 30 yards to get the ball inside the red zone. Whitley later rushed for a couple of yards for the touchdown to get the Jimmies on the board, although the extra point attempt missed and the score was at 7-6 with eight minutes remaining on the first quarter timer.
With just one minute left in the first quarter, the Peacocks added to their total with six plays resulting in 54 yards and a touchdown plus an extra point for a 14-6 lead.
Early in the second quarter, UJ did not have much success offensively, failing to record a first down on their next two drives. Upper Iowa added seven more points a few minutes into the quarter to grow their lead to 21-6.
After forcing another Upper Iowa three-and-out, the Jimmies had a great start to their next drive.
Gage Solano caught a couple of passes for 23 yards and Whitley rushed for 17. However, at the Upper Iowa 20-yard line, UJ had a fourth-and-4 that resulted in an incomplete pass, leading to a turnover on downs just before halftime.
Halftime came around with the score at 21-6 in favor of the Peacocks. Upper Iowa had 203 total yards while Jamestown sat at 139.
The Peacocks' first drive of the third quarter resulted in success again, but the Jimmies did force a field goal that was canned from 39 yards with the score now at 24-6.
After the touchdown, Whitley had a big kick return for 40 yards that put UJ halfway to the end zone. Hentges and Whitley combined for all the yards the rest of the drive, and Whitley rushed 22 yards for a touchdown to give the Jimmies some life again. Zachary Johnson got the extra point to go and Jamestown trailed by just two scores, 24-13, with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Heading into the fourth quarter and needing offense, UJ had a bit of a tough time gaining yards against the Peacocks. Upper Iowa missed a field goal with 10:29 left to play, but the Jimmies had just one first down the rest of the game.
The Peacocks had another touchdown a bit later, and intercepted Hentges in the Jimmies last hope as Upper Iowa went on to win by a score of 30-13.
Hentges finished with nine completions for 70 yards and one interception while rushing he had 15 carries for 76 yards with an average of 4.3 yards. Whitley rushed for 77 yards with two touchdowns and also caught a pass for 27 yards. Solano had five catches for 29 yards and
Nate Burke caught two passes for 16 yards.
Josh Bosacker led the Jamestown defense with 11 tackles, including two for a loss of yards.
Antonio Bernardini was right behind Bosacker with nine tackles and had the only Jamestown sack of the afternoon.
Total yards in the game were 383 for the Peacocks and 213 for the Jimmies. Upper Iowa had more first downs (18-11), averaging nearly two more yards per play (5.3 vs. 3.5), and converting on three of their four fourth downs. The late interception committed by Jamestown was the game's only turnover.
UJ will return home to begin their NSIC portion of the season as they host Sioux Falls on Saturday, September 5 at 1 p.m.
