Pride stave off Graceland comeback to start Heart North play 1-0
LAMONI, Iowa - Playing their first Heart of America Athletic Conference North Division game of the 2025 season, the Clarke University football team would get their first win of the season in a 37-30 road victory over Graceland University on Saturday afternoon in Lamoni, Iowa.
The 37 points scored by the Pride are the most they've produced this season as their 479 total yards was also the most they've produced in a single game this season combining their best passing yards performance of 341 yards and their second best rushing yards performance of 136 yards to have their most complete offensive day of 2025 so far.
The passing attack was once again a two-headed monster, this time out of necessity, as senior Mike Reese would get the start to pass for an efficient 163 yards, completing 11-of-14 passes for two touchdowns, the first of which was a first quarter score to Jackson Ostrander-Krier from seven yards out to give CU a 7-0 lead, then the second a 16-yard pitch and catch to Davin Hawkins to regain the lead at 13-8 late in the opening frame.
The Hawkins touchdown was the third play after the Pride's Rahlil English blocked a Graceland punt to give Clarke a drive that started in their red zone for English's third blocked punt of the season after he blocked two punts in the Pride's season-opener against Mount Marty back on Aug. 30.
Reese would suffer an injury in the second quarter, thrusting Carson Estrada, the Pride starting quarterback in the first four games, into action as the sophomore would complete 10-of-19 passes for 178 yards, the most important coming in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for Clarke as he hit Ostrander-Krier on a seam ball for 20 yards on a third and eight after the two-minute timeout to allow the Pride to run out the clock to their first victory of the year.
Right after that completion, Pride running back Caleb Perry put an exclamation on the game and his day specifically with a 16-yard first down run to really ice the game and put the junior at a final statline of 95 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns and added three catches for 26 yards to total 121 scrimmage yards on Saturday.
Perry's two touchdown runs both came from a yard out as he punched home scoring drives in the second quarter and third quarter to make the scores 20-8 and 30-15 respectively with the final scoring play coming on a crucial fourth and one play in the third when Gustav Nordberg-Risto would get plenty more than just the one yard needed to keep the drive alive, as he would scamper 24 yards to the end zone for his second-straight game with a rushing touchdown to make it a 37-15 game at the time.
At that point in the game, the Pride could have had a larger margin, as they left some points on the board earlier in the game, first following the first interception of the game from senior cornerback Jordan Summage as he picked up GU quarterback CJ Brooks in the second quarter to prevent a Graceland scoring opportunity but CU would fumble the ball back to the Yellowjackets on a play that gained 53 yards and would have put the Pride at least within field goal range.
Earlier in the second, Clarke missed a 24-yard field goal and in the fourth quarter, Graceland prevented the Pride from scoring in a goal-to-go situation from the eight yard line as they produced a sack-fumble to turn CU over for the second and final time in the game, with all three of those plays keeping at least nine Pride points off the board and as many of 17 possible CU points.
Summage did come away with a pair of interceptions in the game as the Montgomery, Ala. native produced his second and third interceptions of the season and his first-career multi-interception game as he also added a pass break up and five total tackles.
Clarke's defense created two more turnovers in the form of Yellowjacket fumbles as Cody Kautz and Marquise Defrand recovered the two loose balls as Kautz finished the game a tackle shy of tying for the team lead, with seven total, six solo and one assisted, with Camden Schoor and Jaden Warren both producing eight total tackles with five solo and three assisted tackles as Warren also produced a tackle for a loss.
Reese and Estrada spread the ball around nicely to seven different receivers in teh combined 21 completions led by a five-catch 67-yard game from Isaac Guerrero, Riley Hawkins added three cathces for 63 yards, Cal Bennet caught two balls for 36 yards, and Zach Rinehart caught one pass for 53 yards along with Ostrander-Krier's four catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, Davin Hawkins' three catches for 46 yards and a score, and Perry's three cathces for 26 yards.
Pride football will play one more game on the road prior to the Heart bye week as they're next game is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. CT in Peru, Neb. against Peru State College on Saturday, Oct. 4.