After a week of rest, the Iowa Wesleyan College football team will return to the field for its final regular season game Saturday afternoon against St. Ambrose University at 1 p.m. at Mapleleaf Stadium.

The Tigers will be looking to end the season on a high note in the final game for eight seniors. IWC also will get a last shot at scoring its first four-win season since 1997, and its first winning record in Mid-States Football Association play since joining the league in 1996.

Wesleyan will also be looking for a much better all-around effort than its past two games, which ended as lopsided losses to Saint Xavier and Grand View.

 In their last time out the Tigers turned the ball over on the first offensive play of the game and things never got better in a 73-6 loss to Grand View.

The Vikings scored on every possession before running out the clock at the end of the game, and the IWC offense moved the ball in spurts but turned the ball over five times.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT

This week the Tigers face a St. Ambrose team that also is coming off a loss to Grand View, as the Bees lost to the Vikings 20-17 last week. St. Ambrose has a misleading record in that the Bees’ five losses have come by a total of 30 points, including four by a touchdown or less. SAU is one game behind Wesleyan in the MSFA Midwest League standings and at 4-5.

A loss would give the Bees their first losing season since 1999, and St. Ambrose already has been guaranteed its first losing mark in MSFA play since that year.

The Fighting Bees’ offense has picked up in the last five weeks, coinciding with when Barney O’Donnell took over as the starting quarterback.

After not scoring more than 28 points in any of their first four games, O’Donnell has helped SAU average almost 34 points per game over the last five games.

 He has been a threat passing and running, throwing for 14 touchdowns and 1,173 yards while also rushing for 627 yards and six touchdowns.

He also has one of the top receivers in the country in Michael Hayward, who has caught 63 passes for 956 yards and 12 touchdowns this year.

SERIES HISTORY

This is the 48th meeting all-time between the Tigers and Fighting Bees.

St. Ambrose leads the all-time series between the schools 31-14-2 and has won 11 straight meetings.

 Last year the Bees defeated the Tigers 42-0 as Beau Foiles set an SAU single-game record with 293 receiving yards. Wesleyan’s last win in the series came on Oct. 31,1998, a 31-27 win in Mount Pleasant where Terry Taylor scored the winning touchdown with two seconds left in the game to give IWC the win.

Courtesy Iowa Wesleyan College