Coyotes turn focus toward first home game after big road win

The Coyotes are looking to impress in their first home game, as they square off against Drake.

Drake is coming off two consecutive wins to start the season and USD looks to end the streak.

In order to do that, associate head coach Wesley Beschorner said the defense has to stop the run and prevent Drake from moving down the field into the red zone.

“If they do get into the red zone, we have got to make them kick field goals,” Beschorner said. “When we’re on offense, we need to control the football, score points, so they have to play catchup the entire time.”

USD will play Drake this Saturday at 2 p.m. for their home opener in the DakotaDome.

USD is coming off of a 27-17 road win over UC-Davis, which was led by a career performance from junior running back Trevor Bouma. Bouma ran for a career-high 186 yards and two touchdowns and also caught for 48 yards receiving. He led the team in both categories.

Bouma was able to put a tough game against Kansas State two weeks ago behind him in which he only gained 17 yards.

“We all came into film the next day and we told ourselves we’ve got to flush that game behind us. It really doesn’t matter for us because we’re onto the next week,” Bouma said. “This week now we’re onto Drake, and we’ve just got to go 1-0 each week.”

Bouma said that despite his strong game, he can always do better,

“I played a decent game but I didn’t play a perfect game. You never do, and there’s always things to improve on. I’m excited to get better this week,” he said.

The performance earned Bouma the Missouri Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor. Junior kicker Miles Bergner also received Special Teams Player of the Week.

Bergner hit two field goals from the 30 and 45 yard lines, kicked for 41 yards on seven punts and had an average of 59.8 yards on kickoffs, with one touchback.

Bouma was not the only Coyote to have a good day on offense. Junior quarterback Ryan Saeger followed up the game in which he saw a career high in passing with a solid 137 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. Eric Shufford also shined with 35 yards and one touchdown.

The USD defense also had a solid performance, as they held UC Davis to 60 yards rushing and only a field goal in the first half. Junior linebacker Jon Wessel led all USD players with eight total tackles and Jacob Warner pulled in two interceptions.

Although UC Davis passed for 234 yards, Warner contested they were not what they seemed.

“They had one big play for 75 yards, so I think that accounted for a lot of the yards. If we just cut down on the big plays and keep putting pressure on the quarterback, I think we’re going to be all right,” Warner said.

Beschorner agreed, stating they were empty yards.

“Yards aren’t that important as long as we’re getting turnovers and not letting points be scored on us. Our defense did a great job of getting the ball, just turning it over,” Beschorner said.

The USD defense accounted for four sacks on the night, three interceptions and forced UC Davis quarterback Ben Scott to record negative 26 yards rushing for the game.

(Photo: Running back Trevor Bouma faces the Kansas State bench during the season opener in Manhattan, Kan. on Sept. 5. Bouma ran for a career-high this past weekend at UC-Davis. File Photo / The Volante)