FAYETTE, IA (KELO.com) — It was a 31-14 Augustana football victory Saturday thanks to a pair of 100-yard rushers at Upper Iowa. Isaiah Huber and David Addo combined for 237 yards on the ground and three touchdowns to push AU to 5-1 in 2022. Upper Iowa falls to 0-6.
In addition, Grayson Diepenbrock became the program’s sack king as he sacked the UIU quarterback twice, pushing his career to 23.5 sacks to surpass Craig Bosch’s 23.
Diepenbrock’s first sack of the game set up the Vikings’ first touchdown. Diepenbrock ran through the offensive line, untouched, to get to Marcus Orr and created a strip sack. That set the Vikings’ offense up inside the Peacock five-yard line.
Kyle Graham to the handoff and went towards the right pylon for the game’s first score.
Upper Iowa tied the game at seven on a 19-yard touchdown pass from the UIU running back on a trick play.
On the ensuing drive, the Vikings answered back with a 6-play, 71-yard drive concluding with an Addo seven-yard touchdown. Addo used power football to push himself through the line and reach the end zone.
The 14-7 score would hold for halftime thanks to an interception by Eli Weber, his third of the season. Weber hauled in the pass with just seconds remaining in the first half inside Viking territory.
Augustana utilized a misplay by Upper Iowa to score its third touchdown of the contest. A 38-yard Drew Jurgens punt was muffed by the returner and quickly recovered by JayVian Farr at the UIU seven-yard line. One play later, Addo was again in the end zone for the 21-7 score.
In the early minutes of the fourth quarter, Ben Limburg split the uprights on a 33-yard field goal to boost the Vikings’ lead to 24-7.
Upper Iowa scored its second touchdown of the game with 5:14 remaining on a 40-yard pass from Orr to Richard Kamara. With the possibility of an onside kick, the Vikings were forced to fair catch the kickoff giving them a 1st-and-10 at their own 25-yard line to start the next drive.
Huber, who was moved from wide receiver to running back this game, gained three yards on the first play of the drive. The second play? That went 72 yards for a touchdown. He spun off multiple tackles and went over 65 yards after contact.
With Limburg’s point-after attempt, the score was 31-14 with 4:14 on the clock and proving to be the final score.
Huber concluded the game with 136 yards rushing on nine attempts, a 15.1 yards per carry average, and a touchdown. Addo ended with 101 yards and two touchdowns.
In all, Augustana rattled off 376 yards of offense while holding Upper Iowa to 200 yards even and just 10 yards rushing. As has been the norm in 2022, T.J. Liggett led the team with eight tackles. TJ Murray found himself with five tackles and a pass breakup.
However, the story of the defense was Diepenbrock as his two sacks totaled a loss of 26 Peacock yards. He now has eight sacks in 2022, tying the single-season program record, while his 23.5 sacks over 39 career contests are a program record for a career.
Augustana is back home inside Kirkeby-Over Stadium on Saturday for Viking Days. The contest with Wayne State is slated for 1 p.m. For tickets, head to GoAugie.com/Tickets.
