here - Morningside College
here - Morningside College
here - Morningside College
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Would you be one, who dares to try,<br />
When challenged by the task;<br />
To rise to heights you’ve never seen,<br />
Or is that too much to ask…<br />
You will be proud of what you’ve done,<br />
When at the close of day;<br />
You look back on your battles won,<br />
Content you came this way!<br />
–From “The Challenge” by Dr. Heartstill Wilson, a locker<br />
room poem that inspired the 1974-1975 basketball team<br />
M-Club Messenger<br />
Colby Henderson<br />
led the NAIA with 11<br />
interceptions<br />
during the 2011<br />
season. He returned<br />
an interception for<br />
a touchdown to<br />
help spark the<br />
Mustangs’<br />
memorable<br />
come-from-behind<br />
victory at Midland.<br />
Photo by Dr. Gene<br />
Knudsen 1971.<br />
Amazing Mustang comeback stories<br />
By Dr. Sharon Ocker<br />
“It ain’t over till it’s over.” This popular saying is often credited to<br />
former Yankee baseball star Yogi Berra, although others have also<br />
been said to be the author. Regardless of the source, sports fans know<br />
that it is very true.<br />
T<strong>here</strong> have been some signature comebacks in the rich history of<br />
<strong>Morningside</strong> athletics. One occurred just this past fall, when the<br />
Mustang football team pulled out a victory over Midland that seemed<br />
out of reach with only a few minutes to go. I was in Fremont, Neb., for<br />
the game, and it was truly amazing.<br />
Midland entered the game unbeaten, thriving with the addition of<br />
a number of transfers, including a seasoned quarterback from<br />
Eastern Washington named Greg Panelli, who had his way with the<br />
<strong>Morningside</strong> defense, throwing a host of sideline passes with such<br />
speed and accuracy that we couldn’t seem to stop him. Midland’s<br />
defense was inspired, too, holding the Mustangs to just 73 yards<br />
through the first three quarters. The Warriors led 21-3.<br />
Preston Ives had a nice kick return to the Midland 38-yard line.<br />
Seven plays later, freshman Kyle Nikkel, filling in at quarterback<br />
because of an injury, hit Dillon Robinson with a 20-yard scoring pass.<br />
It was 21-10 with 12:09 remaining, but it still looked pretty bleak.<br />
Then Panelli went to the well once too often. <strong>Morningside</strong>’s<br />
cornerbacks had been playing soft on defense all afternoon, but Colby<br />
Henderson, who led the National Association of Intercollegiate<br />
Athletics (NAIA) in interceptions with 11 during the 2011 season,<br />
played closer, saw a pass coming, picked it off and ran it in from 20<br />
yards out. The score was 21-18 with 4:07 remaining on the clock.<br />
After the kickoff, the defense held and the Mustangs took over on<br />
their own 40 with 2:59 left in the game. A 10-yard pass from Nikkel to<br />
Colby Rohde and a 15-yard personal foul penalty got it close enough<br />
for freshman Zach Maxey to kick a 47-yard field goal to tie the game.<br />
Now 54 seconds remained. But Panelli threw two passes – one long<br />
and one short – to get Midland back in the lead at 27-21 with 20<br />
seconds left. However, they missed the point after. As Yogi said, it<br />
still wasn’t over. With time running out, Nikkel threw a 50-yard “Hail<br />
Mary” into the end zone. Three defenders fought for the ball with<br />
Kyle Schuck, but the Mustang wide receiver somehow came down<br />
with it. Maxey kicked the extra point, and the game ended with<br />
<strong>Morningside</strong> on top, 28-27.<br />
Another fabulous comeback for <strong>Morningside</strong> was a basketball<br />
playoff game in March of 1975. It happened in Mount Pleasant, Iowa,<br />
w<strong>here</strong> <strong>Morningside</strong> came back in the last minute to defeat hometown<br />
Iowa Wesleyan by scoring six points in less than 60 seconds. That<br />
doesn’t sound like much of a miracle today, but back then t<strong>here</strong> was<br />
no 3-point shot.<br />
Iowa Wesleyan’s Larry Gunn was at the foul line for a one-and-one.<br />
He missed. <strong>Morningside</strong> raced down court and missed a shot, but<br />
Marvelous Marv Munden 1976, who had 26 points for the night,<br />
scored off a rebound. With 21 ticks left, Iowa Wesleyan’s Tom Dickens<br />
missed yet another free throw. This time, Doug Marx 1977 missed a<br />
jumper, but big Dave Schlesser 1975 tipped it in. T<strong>here</strong> were 10<br />
seconds left.<br />
After a timeout, second-year coach Dan Callahan called for a “big<br />
man trap,” with Schlesser fronting the throw in. Wesleyan panicked<br />
and threw a long pass to half court that was headed out of bounds.<br />
Their guy tried leaping in the air to save it, but threw it to Joe Longo<br />
1977. Longo relayed it to Munden, who spied Dan Pomerenke 1975<br />
open in the corner. Pomerenke drove the baseline and put up the<br />
winning layup as time expired. Schlesser finished with 27 points, and<br />
in doing so, set a new <strong>Morningside</strong> single-season scoring record.<br />
Others who played that night included Owen Lomax 1979 and Herb<br />
McMath 1976.<br />
That <strong>Morningside</strong> basketball team punched its ticket to the NAIA<br />
National Tournament, w<strong>here</strong> it lost in the first round to Wisconsin-<br />
Parkside to finish the season with a 17-12 record. T<strong>here</strong> were many<br />
sweet memories that season, but none was better than the win in<br />
Mount Pleasant.<br />
Paralleling these great comebacks was one I witnessed at the<br />
Kansas Relays in 1960. A runner whose name I don’t recall was<br />
competing in the 3000-meter steeplechase. He led to the first water<br />
barrier, but fell in the drink and everyone passed him. He regained<br />
the lead, but again fell and was behind. By the time the fifth “wet”<br />
barrier was reached, with the same result, the crowd was really into<br />
it. It happened twice more, but at the last hurdle, he got up and won<br />
the race to tumultuous applause. Talk about not giving up.<br />
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