AMES – For the first time in school history, Iowa State has won 10 games. The No. 18 Cyclones did it in a 29-21 win over No. 24 Kansas State Saturday night.
The key to getting points on the board was the defense’s ability to force turnovers. The first one happened on the first play of the game.
A lateral pass from Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson hit the ground and was recovered by senior defensive back Myles Purchase.
The turnover set up the Cyclone offense for a 15-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Jayden Higgins.
Two of the next three Kansas State drives were three-and-outs, but the other ended on a 28-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-two play.
A drive later, the Wildcats dropped the ball again. This time freshman defensive back Ta’Shawn James forced it and senior defensive end Joey Petersen jumped on it.
The seniors on defense made their presence felt early in the game.
Once again, the Kansas State fumble resulted in an Iowa State touchdown. This time it was senior wide receiver Jaylin Noel who caught it. The catch also pushed him past 1,000 receiving yards on the season.
“[Noel] has trusted this program and it’s trusted him back,” Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht said. “He’s a brother to me.”
With 12:40 left on the clock until halftime, the Cyclones held a 17-7 lead. 14 of those points came off of turnovers.
“Honestly I felt like we could have done better,” Becht said. “The defense did a hell of a job tonight stopping them.”
The defense didn’t waiver in the second half. In fact, it seemed to strengthen.
Sixth-year senior Darien Porter began his career at Iowa State playing special teams. Throughout his career, he has become known for his ability to impact plays on special teams positively for the Cyclones.
Though he has moved into a defensive back role, Porter made one more massive special teams play in front of the home fans, and it came on senior night.
Kansas State had the ball in scoring position and looked to get in the endzone. The Wildcats rattled off 58 rushing yards on the drive, but it stalled right near the goal line.
A field goal attempt was taken, but to the Wildcats’ dismay, it was blocked. Porter was the one who got his hands on it.
“It was big,” Porter said. “Very emotional night. To be able to do something like that on senior night, last game in the Jack is big time, and I’ll definitely remember it forever.”
The blocked kick kept Kansas State down 10 points and its struggles didn’t stop there.
Two drives later, the Wildcats gave the Cyclones two points. Johnson scrambled when faced with heavy pressure from Iowa State on a third-and-seven play.
After he was forced into the endzone, Johnson had no choice but to throw it away. Once a quick conference between the officials was had, intentional grounding was called.
Since it occurred in the endzone, it resulted in a safety and made it a 26-21 lead for Iowa State.
“It was a great call by coach [Jon] Heacock,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “We were able to get somebody loose right through the middle of the offense.”
Kansas State had two drives after that which followed a field goal from Cyclone kicker Kyle Konrardy. Both ended the same way: turnover on downs.
Each drive came within the final five minutes. The first gave the Iowa State defense assurance that it could do it again, and it did.
With 34 seconds to go the Cyclone defense made the final stop of the game to seal not only a senior night win but the first 10-win season in program history.
“Couldn’t be prouder,” Campbell said. “Our kids have really never wavered.”
Belief never waivered among the players. The final regular season record was seen as a culmination of a season’s worth of work among Campbell and the players.
Senior defensive back Beau Freyler summed up the team in one word: love.
“Love for each other, love for this game, that’s how I would sum it up,” Freyler said.
Reflection over a game is one thing. A season is another. But a career is different. Freyler, Porter and Noel all played their final game at Jack Trice Stadium after staying for their entire collegiate careers.
Though that part of the journey is over, the season is not.
“It’s been a crazy journey to get to this moment,” Freyler said. “I couldn’t give more praise and thanks to my teammates and the coaching staff and everyone that’s touched this program for all they’ve done to push us to where we’ve been.”
