Walls, Hough's big moments propel No. 6 Mustangs to quarterfinals

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Dijion Walls savors the big moments on the football field. On Saturday in a 35-0 second-round win over MidAmerica Nazarene, the Morningside University defensive back experienced a major moment.

Walls broke a school record with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the third quarter that helped Morningside advance to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championship Series quarterfinals next week against No. 4 Montana Western. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Sioux City time.  

Walls was named the Defensive Player of the Game with the pick-6.

"It's a huge, huge, huge accomplishment," Walls said of his big score. "I just found out from my coach, (safeties coach) Jamal (Jones), that I broke his record. It's a huge one, but we're onto the next one."

The play happened with 9 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third quarter. The Pioneers were driving down the field on their ninth play of the series. Walls read the pass perfectly to near perfection, intercepting it about a yard into the end zone, then sprinted toward his team's end zone in the snow for the score.

"That was the play of the game," said head coach Steve Ryan. "We came out and we sputtered that first drive, and they went all the way down, and for Dijion to make that play, that's really exciting to see. He likes the big moment. That's part of the nature of being a cornerback."

Walls wasn't the only one who stepped up defensively. The Mustangs 'D' held the Pioneers to 267 total yards, and 84 on the ground. On third down, MNU was 1-for-15 and converted just two of seven plays on fourth down.

"I feel like the bye week helped us a lot," Walls said. "We were locked in all day. We flew around and made plays."

Isaac Pingel led the Morningside defense with 11 total tackles, while Cade Harriman had 10. Pingel had 2.5 total tackles for loss for four yards, while Malik Hampton had a pair for a combined two yards.

Walls' interception return was the third scoring play for the Mustangs on Saturday. Max Hough had three of the five scoring plays, all on the ground. Because of that, he was named the Offensive Player of the Game.

His first scoring play broke the ice with a 23-yard scamper, then ran it in from the MNU 13 and one-yard line in the win. Hough led the rushing attack with 149 yards on 26 carries, and Nolan Feller took the ball 13 times for 76 yards.

"It feels good to be on the field and step up for my team," Hough said. "I knew I could do it, but this team has been very supportive along the way."

Coach Ryan said he was "exceptionally proud" of how Hough has handled the situation and stepped up since the beginning of the season.

"He was our fourth running back to start the season," Ryan said. "All of a sudden, he's got all these touchdowns."

Quarterback Zack Chevalier had a TD pass mixed in there, too, as he found Griffin Kraft from 12 yards out during the second quarter. Chevalier was 18-for-32 for 186 yards and that one throwing score.

Chevalier shared the ball around on Saturday, finding six different receivers. Drew Sellon led the receiving corps with five catches for 53 yards. Jakob Nelson also collected 53 yards on three receptions.