Doane endures Morningside masterclass

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – In their first road game of the 2024 season, Doane football (1-3, 1-2 GPAC) traveled to face Morningside, one of the most successful programs in modern NAIA history. On Saturday in Sioux City, the No. 14-ranked Mustangs (3-1, 3-0 GPAC) scored early and often, and dominated Doane by a final score of 70-0. 

Facing unquestionably their toughest opponent to this point in the 2024 season, Doane, coming off its impressive win over Waldorf, came to Sioux City in search of a statement win. Instead they ran into a Morningside team that looked like it had something to prove after it barely squeaked past a middling Midland team 28-21 last week. 

The storyline of this game was quite easy to write: Morningside scored a touchdown on literally every one of its first seven possessions, and Doane didn’t even manage a first down until its seventh possession. The Mustangs’ offense was humming, scoring in two minutes or less half a dozen times, while the defense didn’t allow the Tigers to get any ground.  

Morningside stepped off the gas a little bit after halftime following that high-octane first half, but the Tigers looked improved as the game went on. They were able to sustain drives longer, and keep the Morningside offense in check, albeit relatively. However, none of those longer drives resulted in points: after he missed a near-impossible 61-yard field goal in the first half, reigning GPAC Special Teams Player of the Year Kelen Meyer missed a kick from 38 yards away in the second half, and the Tigers were held off the scoreboard on a day where Morningside found the end zone a total of ten times.  

The road quite literally does not get any easier for Doane football, which will now welcome Northwestern, a consensus top three team in the NAIA, to Crete next Saturday. You can watch the action on News Channel Nebraska, or tune in to the radio broadcast on Ol’ Red 99.5: pregame coverage begins at 12:30 with kickoff between the Tigers and Red Raiders to follow at 1 PM.