No. 18 Baker Comes Out on Top of First Road Game, 43-21 over Statesmen

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – Eclipsing over 500 yards of offense, No. 18 Baker took down William Penn by a score of 43-21 on Saturday afternoon in Oskaloosa, Iowa in the first road game of 2024 for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats followed up a 52-0 blowout in last week's season opener with another offensive explosion that saw them turn a 20-14 halftime lead into a comfortable 22-point victory. Gaige Warren scored two of his three touchdowns in the second half, while kicker Seth Simpson went 3-for-3 on field goals with his longest coming on a 46-yard boot to finish off the game.

Baker's offense featured a balanced attack with nearly identical totals in rushing (242) and passing (261) yards with quarterback Truman Juelsgaard leading both categories with 86 yards on the ground. He turned in another efficient outing under center after completing 22 of his 28 passes with four touchdowns. Jueslgaard had just five incompletions last week to start off his junior campaign with an impressive 78.4 completion percentage through his first two games of 2024.

Warren tallied 87 total yards and accounted for three of BU's five touchdowns in the game with a pair of touchdown catches and a 32-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Adrion Seals and Billy Brooks each had a touchdown grab as well with Seals' coming on a 39-yard bomb early in the fourth quarter.

Things didn't start off on the right foot for BU in Oskaloosa with a fumble on the opening drive leading to a quick score from the Statesmen off of the turnover.

Juelsgaard led a methodical drive on the following possession that ended with the first of Simpson's two chip shots in the first half with a 26-yarder to open up Baker's scoring.

The Wildcats put together another long drive on their next time out with a 33-yard pass to Austin Tabor setting BU up inside the red zone yet again. On the next play, Juelsgaard found Brooks for a short score to put the Wildcats on top, 10-7 in the second quarter.

After the Statesmen reclaimed the lead, Warren capped off a 13-play drive with a nice flare screen on a fourth-down gamble near the goal line to flip the lead back to BU at 17-14.

With time winding down in the first half, the BU defense came through with a big turnover to set the Wildcats up deep in WPU territory with less than 90 seconds remaining til halftime. Simpson's 22-yard field goal made it a six-point lead for the Wildcats at the break.

After the defense forced another three-and-out to start the second half, the offense got another big lift from its dynamic freshman Warren, who took the Wildcats' third offensive play of the second half for a 32-yard score to push the lead out to 27-14.

The Statesmen made it a one-score game again with a touchdown late in the third quarter, but the first play of the fourth quarter featured Juelsgaard's 39-yard touchdown pass to Seals, who made a diving effort in the end zone.

Warren capped off his breakout game with a 22-yard touchdown pass to give the Wildcats some breathing room with a 40-21 lead with just under 12 minutes left to play.

BU's defense came through with back-to-back fourth down stops and Simpson delivered the final dagger on his 46-yarder to seal a gritty 43-21 road win for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats completely controlled time of possession in the game with over 41 minutes of possession compared to just 18 minutes for William Penn.

Adding to the rushing attack for BU were Cole Fisher (58) and Chauncey Andrews (48) who combined for over 100 rushing yards with Fisher averaging almost four yards per carry. Tabor finished with four catches for 72 yards.

Defensive lineman Brian Lane forced two fumbles and registered a sack with teammate Lee Marshall III pouncing on the first-half fumble recovery.

With wins in back-to-back games to open the season, the Wildcats are off to a 2-0 start for the fourth straight year and will look to begin the season with three straight wins for the first time since 2020.

No. 18 Baker will host its homecoming matchup against Culver-Stockton on Saturday, Sept. 21 with kickoff set for 1 p.m. on Don Parker Field at Liston Stadium.

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