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South Putnam graduate scores TD in Marian victory
The seventh-ranked Marian University football team clinched its spot in the 59th Annual NAIA Football National Championship after the Knights defeated No. 4 Morningside College, 41-21, in the NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Elwood Olsen Stadium in Sioux City, Iowa.
The championship game appearance is the second in three seasons for the Knights. MU also defeated Morningside, 30-27, in overtime on Dec. 13, 2012 for the program's first-ever NAIA national title.
MU would march the second-half kickoff 65 yards in seven plays and Lake would cap the drive that tied the game at 21-21 with a one-yard touchdown plunge with 11:44 remaining in the quarter. The break the Knights needed came in the ensuing MC drive as redshirt sophomore linebacker Beau Shields forced Wegher to cough up the football and the Knights would recover at the Morningside 14-yard line. The Knights would take the lead when redshirt sophomore Robert Gibson, a South Putnam graduate, went over the top on a one-yard run to give MU a 28-21 lead.
The Knights will face No. 8 Southern Oregon University (12-2), which was a 62-37 winner over third-ranked Saint Xavier (Ill.), in the 59th Annual NAIA Football National Championship game on Friday, Dec. 19 at Daytona Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach, Fla. It is the first meeting between the two programs.
The 3 p.m. kickoff will be televised live on ESPNU.