Breakout game from Hawkins not enough in Pride 28-24 loss at Missouri Valley
MARSHALL, Mo. - Hitting the road for the first time in 2025, the Clarke University football team fell by a final score of 28-24 to Missour Valley College on Saturday afternoon in Marshall, Mo.
The Pride held a pair of 10-point leads, first at 10-0 heading into the halftime break then again at 24-14 early in the fourth quarter but were unable to protect those leads, allowing the Vikings to score 14 unanswered boths in both instances to take a 14-10 lead in the third quarter then score the eventual game-winner with about five minutes left in the game.
CU took their first lead of the season on their opening drive after receiving the opening kickoff to go 77 yards on 13 plays in just under four minutes to cap of the drive with a Carson Estrada pass to Cal Bennet for a 12-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 after Gustav Nordberg-Risto made the PAT kick.
On the drive, Estrada completed balls to seven different receivers on his 11 attempts in the drive with the two other plays resulting in Caleb Perry rush attempts for six and five yards respectively.
After that drive, the offenses would remain fairly stagnant for the rest of the half before MVC would drive down to the red zone with a first and 10 from the CU 17 yard line but a pair of penalties would stall the Vikings as the Pride would get a big third down sack from Kaden Pemberton where Clarke would call a timeout with exactly a minute left in the half to force a punt.
Getting the ball on their own 18 yard line with 53 seconds left, Estrada would complete three passes, one to Davin Hawkins and two to Riley Hawkins and get aided by targeting and pass interference penalties to get down to the Vikings three yard line where they would make the safe play with four seconds left to kick the field goal and take a two-possession lead at 10-0 heading into the break.
Strating the third quarter, this time it would be the Vikings taking the opening kickoff to drive down and score a touchdown as Silas Morton ran in a 21-yard score to get on the board and trail 10-7 after just a 1:53 drive that took five plays and went 69 yards.
Clarke would drive down into scoring territory on their first possession of the second half and make the decision to go for a fourth and two on the MVC four yard line instead of opting to kick with Nordberg-Risto, who was filling in for opening week starting kicker Steele Fredricks, who was out of action due to injury this week.
The Pride would call Estrada's number on a quarterback power run but he would be stopped a yard short of the first down to give the ball back to the Vikings on downs and keep the game at a three-point affair at 10-7.
Trading punts on the following drives, Missouri Valley would take their first lead of the game after a 12-play, 70-yard drive where Vikings quarterback Tomele Staples would hit Markus Stepanoff for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-10 in favor of the home team with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.
In the ensuing possession, Clarke was in danger of doing three-and-out for their second-straight drive when Estrada threw a jump ball to Riley Hawkins down the left sideline as the junior receiver would win the vertical battle against the corner back to then have nothing but green turf and paydirt in front of him to take it to the house 77 yards to regain the lead for CU at 17-14.
Riley Hawkins would produce his best game as a member of the Pride, hauling in seven catches for a career-high 199 yards and his career-long in that 77-yard touchdown catch as six of his seven his catches went for at least 17 yards as he also produced receptions of 25, 17, 33, 18, and 21 yards.
The Vikings' next possession would carry the game into the fourth quarter as they would stall in CU territory and attempt a pooch punch with Staples but Marquise Defrand would get a hand to the punt and Jaden Warren would pounce on the short wobbler to grab the punt and return it 60 yards to officially go down as a punt return but feel like a pick-six for the Pride to take a 24-14 lead.
Clarke would be able to intercept a Staples pass on the next drive when Mysun Rush-Esdaile got his first interception of the season on a third and 13 pass attempt as the Pride would look to take the momentum that was on their side to extend the lead.
What could be considered the most crucial sequence of the game, CU was able to get into MVC territory but came up a yard short again on a fourth down play to come away without points after the turnover but still led by two scores.
Immediately following the turnover on downs, it would appear that the Pride got their second-straight interception of Staples when Jordan Summage snared a deep pass out of the air down the right sideline but a late flag came in for defensive pass interference, giving the Vikings 15 yards instead of taking the ball away.
Missouri Valley would take advantage of their new life and go down to cut the Pride lead to just three when Morton would rush in his second touchdown of the game, this time from three yards out.
In Clarke's next drive, it would this time be the Vikings to record an interception as Jermaine Hamilton picked off Estrada as the ball or Estrada's arm appeared to be hit on release for MVC to take over on a short field at the Pride 29 yard line, where they would score just three plays later on another Morton rush, this time from 24 yards out to take their 28-24 lead.
The Pride would get into the red zone, needing a touchdown to take the lead back as Estrada found Riley Hawkins for a 21-yard catch to open the drive the four-straight rushes first for eight and seven yards by Bradey Huseman then a 12-yard rush by Caleb Perry would set up Clarke with a first and 10 from the MVC 15 yard line.
Perry would be tracked down for a loss of three on first down then three-straight incompletions would turn the ball over on downs with just over two minutes remaining as Clarke would call their two remaining timeouts and use the two-minute timeout to be able to get the ball back near the 50 yard line with 1:37 left in the game.
Unfortunately for CU, their best play in their final drive would be a pass interference attempting to find Riley Hawkins down the right sideline as Hamlton recorded his second interception of the game to seal the win for Missouri Valley on the first play after the interference call.
Estrada finished the game 24-of-48 passing for 318 yards and two touchdowns but three interceptions as Perry rushed for 66 yards on 16 carries and Huseman added 24 yards on six carries.
Both Riley and Davin Hawkins tied for the game-high with seven receptions as Davin caught those seven balls for 46 yards and seven other members of the Pride offense caught passes on the day.
Warren and Pemberton led the Clarke defenders in tackles as Warren was credited for 13 solo tackles and one assisted tackle for 14 total to go along with that punt return touchdown with Pemberton making nine total tackles including three sacks and four tackles for a loss and a force fumble.
Pride football will return home for their next two games, first on Saturday, Sept. 13 when they welcome MidAmerica Nazarene University to Dalzell Field for a 1:00 p.m. CT kickoff against the Pioneers.