Hayden Audette, contributor

In their first home game in nearly two years, with fans back in attendance, the Auggies fell to the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves in a score of 19-20. It was close throughout, and the Auggies never trailed by more than seven. The Auggies have fallen to a record of 0-2 after this loss, but with plenty of time remaining in the season, there is a lot of potential for this team to turn things around under new coach Derrin Lamker. 

The first quarter of Augsburg’s 2021 football home opener featured a strong defensive showing from the Auggies. Nebraska Wesleyan quarterback Carter Terry threw 2 interceptions in the opening 15 minutes which led to 6 points for the Auggies. With a little over three minutes to go in the first, the Auggies defensive back Hamsa Kahin intercepted the pass from Terry and raced to the end zone for a touchdown to put the home team in front. 

After the first quarter, Augsburg led 7-0, but within the first minute of the second, Nebraska Wesleyan finally broke through for their first touchdown of the game, a running play from one yard out. For the rest of the first half, the Auggies defense was once again the story, as the second quarter featured two more long drives from the visiting Prairie Wolves that both stalled inside the red zone. Nebraska Wesleyan had to settle for a pair of field goals to go into the half up by just six points. 

At the beginning of the first half, the Auggies tied it up within the first five minutes when quarterback Cade Sheehan found Dominic Smith from 17 yards out. Towards the end of the third, Nebraska Wesleyan retook the lead thanks to Terry’s first touchdown pass of the game. 

With only one quarter to go, the Auggies trailed by just seven points. They would get six of them back thanks to another Cade Sheehan touchdown pass, but a missed extra point meant that the offense would need another drive to win the game. They would get one last chance with a little over five minutes left and used up almost all of it to set up a game-winning field goal attempt from 25 yards out. Unfortunately, the kick was no good, and the Prairie Wolves were able to escape with a one-point victory.

Although it was an unfortunate loss for the Auggies, there were several positive lessons to take from this game in order to prepare for their next one against St. Scholastica on September 25th in Duluth.