The Briar Cliff football team fell to #4 Northwestern Saturday 7-56 in Orange City, Iowa. The Chargers drop to 1-8 on the season and 1-7 in the GPAC.
 
"I'm really proud of the way the young men in our program continue to fight," said head coach Shane LaDage. "We dug ourselves a hole early and weren't able to get anything going. They were able to exploit us with big plays and we couldn't sustain drives offensively. Penalties hurt us as well during the second half. We were able to get some stops later in the game and capitalized on a long drive late. Hats off to a great Northwestern program who will certainly be in the hunt for a national championship."
 
The Chargers only turned the ball over one time in the contest on their opening drive, but were unable to sustain drives, going 4-for-15 on third downs. The Chargers totaled 194 yards of offense with a 3.4 yards per play average. The Red Raiders high powered offense gained 499 yards at a 9.1 yards per play clip.
 
Briar Cliff's touchdown came off a 14-play, 83-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. In a run-heavy drive, Johnny Bauser crossed the goal line on a five-yard rush. The Chargers had three rushes for over 13 yards and one completion for 17 yards on the drive.
 
Bauser was the team's leading rusher with 49 yards on five carries. Luke Davies completed 9-of-16 attempts for 85 yards. Tim Brown caught three passes for a team high 48 yards.
 
Myles Curry had seven tackles (five solo) to lead the defense. Winston Gassant, Lakey Martin and MJ Montgomery each had one tackle for a loss. Martin and Montgomery had one sack a piece.
 
Briar Cliff is back at Memorial Field next Saturday for a Senior Day matchup against Concordia at 1 p.m.