Northwestern College Headed To 1st NAIA National Title Game In Over 30 years

In a battle of two Iowa teams last Saturday, Northwestern College knocked off #1 Morningside in the NAIA National Semifinals. Nrothwestern edged the defending National Champs in a thriller 44-41.

The loss snapped a 38 game winning streak for Morningside and is their 1st win over them in 8 years. The Red Raiders put together a late game scoring drive of 91 yards, in 8 plays that took 93 seconds. The drive was capped off, by what would be the game winning TD. Northwestern QB Tyson Kooima found Michael Storey with 16 seconds left.

Kooima was 21 of 31 passing for 490 yards and 3 TD’s. His favorite target on the day was Cade Moser, who set a new single game school record for receiving yards with 303. Morningside RB Anothony Sims ran for 244 yards and 3 TD’s in the losing effort.

The Semifinal match up meant that two teams from Western Iowa, separated by roughly 45 miles were two of the last 4 teams in the country remaining. Northwestern will play May 10th in Ruston, Louisiana for the National Title. It marks the first appearance for their program in the NAIA National Championship Game since 1984.