Pride get in the win column against CMU behind strong rushing attack
FAYETTE, Mo. - In a matchup of a pair of winless teams through the first few weeks of the 2024 season, it was the Clarke University football team that came out on top of Central Methodist University by a final score of 20-12 on the road on Saturday afternoon.
Facing second half struggles over their first three games, this time it was a strong second half where the Pride outscored the Eagles 14-3 that helped carry CU over CMU on Saturday after entering the locker rooms at halftime trailing 9-6.
An improved rushing attacked carried the way for an offense that had taken a bit to find its groove this season as Clarke ran for a total of 215 rushing yards compared to 160 for CMU as the Pride were led by a career-high 156 yards from sophomore tailback Jaden Alveranga as he got those 156 yards on just 17 carries averaging 9.2 yards per rush.
Alveranga got the scoring started in the first quarter when he broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run at the 7:30 mark to give CU an early 6-0 lead following a missed PAT kick.
The Eagles would fight back to regain the lead following a second quarter safety that made it 6-2, the would end the half scoring with 10 seconds left in the second quarter on an Alvara Ortega-Morales two-yard rush to give CMU that 9-6 halftime lead.
It was more Alveranga to start the second half as he would scamper into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game, this time from 17 yards out to cap off a six-play 71-yard drive over the first 3:26 of the half that got off to a rough start with a penalty, a fumbled exchange, then a Carson Estrada rush for no gain made it third and 25 as Estrada would flip the ball out to Jaden Warren, who could scamper for a 21-yard gain to make it fourth and four on CU's 35 yard line.
Head Coach Adam Hicks would then pull out the trickery as the Pride would pull out a fake punt with Garrett Atkinson rushing for eight yards and a first down to keep the drive alive for Estrada to hit Riley Hawkins for a 40-yard completion on a pass initially intended for Jackson Ostrander that was tipped to a nearby Hawkins one play before the Alveranga 17-yard touchdown run to make it 13-9 Clarke.
Estrada had a commendable performaned going 10-for-21 for 194 yards as he was able to spread the ball around to six different pass catchers including three receivers with over 40 yards in Ostrander and Cal Bennett with two receptions for 43 yards each and Hawkins adding that catch for 40 yards.
The score would remain at that four-point margin as the Pride would start another drive late in the third quarter with a pair of big plays pushing the ball down the field, first an Estrada 11-yard completion to Roland Hazard Jr. followed by Alveranga's longest run of the game for a 40-yard carry down to the CMU three yard line setting up a Warren rush on the second play of the fourth quarter that was ruled to have been fumbled before reaching the goal line but recovered at the bottom of a pile by a Clarke lineman for a touchdown, making the game 20-9.
Warren finished the game with 63 all purpose yards with that 21 yard reception on the third quarter scoring drive and 42 rushing yards on nine carries for a 4.7 yards per carry average.
Central Methodist would add a field goal later in the fourth and the final drive of the game would need desperation laterals from the Eagles on fourth down that were eventually fumbled and recovered by Jonah Robinson to seal the win for Clarke.
Not to go unnoticed was the defensive effort by the Pride, allowing under 100 passing yards for the second-straight week and stopping CMU twice on fourth downs, including a large fourth and goal stop in the fourth quarter with just over four minutes remaining as the Eagles were only able to gain one yard on a goal-to-go situation starting from the Clarke nine yardline as a touchdown and a successful two-point try would have tied the game.
Clarke's leading tackler was Steele Fredricks as he finished with seven tackles including his second-straight week with a sack adding one more tackle for a loss of two yards as Bryan Valdes, Gabe Guyton, and Charles Jones all added six tackles with Guyton also being credited with a pass breakup.
Pride football will return home to Dalzell Field next Saturday for their Homecoming game when they host Peru State College for a 1:00 p.m. CT kickoff against the Bobcats on Sept. 28.