(Mt. Pleasant, IA) - The Peru State College Football team picked up their first victory of the season today with a 21-20 win over Iowa Wesleyan College.

Peru's John Noojin capped off a six play 70 yard drive after a one yard plunge at the 12:39 mark. Five minutes later the Bobcats crossed the end zone as Noojin picked up his second TD of the game. Max Kathol converted the PAT kick that finished off the 60 yard-eight play drive to give Peru a 14-0 lead.

The Tiger's first score came on a 28 yard inception return by Damon Foster. Wesleyan pulled within a touchdown of the Bobcats. It would only take the Bobcats three minutes later to score the game winning TD. Curtis Thompson found Cody Wallinger on a four yard reception as Kathol booted home the PAT to give the Bobcats a 21-7 lead.

Wesleyan scored once again in the third to pull the score to 21-14. In the fourth the Tigers drove 37 yards in eight plays to bring the score to 21-20. On the IWC PAT attempt, Peru's Max Virus came off the corner to block the point after and secure the Bobcats victory.

Peru finished with 14 first downs, ten of those coming on the ground and four through the air. The Bobcats had 208 yards rushing on 47 attempts. John Noojin just missed the 100 yard mark as he racked up 96 yards on 11 carries with two touch downs. The Bobcats had 169 yards through the air on eight of 15 with two interceptions. On the day Peru had 377 yards of total offense compared to the Tigers 285. Peru’s Curtis Thompson finished the win off completing seven of his 14 attempts for 128 yards with two interceptions. Shane Mathis was perfect in the air as he completed one pass for 41 yards.

Cody Wallinger and John Noojin led the Bobcats in receptions for the game. Wallinger had four catches for 92 yards and one TD while Noojin caught one pass for 65 yards. Peru’s Zach Kohlhoff had five punts on the day for a total of 226 yards which gave him an average of 45.2 yards per punt. His largest punt in the game was a 62 yard boot.

On the defensive side of the ball, Alex Meredith led the charge with nine total tackles while teammates Quentin Coatney and Dustin Sealey added eight and seven tackles respectively. Peru’s Taylor Spears and Fred Whitted Jr. each picked off the Wesleyan quarterback for an interception while Justin Merrell had the only sack for the Bobcats for a loss of seven yards.

The Bobcats win moves the team to 1-3 overall on the season. The team will travel south next Saturday to take on Bacone in Muskogee, OK. Kick off is set for 1:00 p.m.

GAME STATS