Senior quarterback sets Augustana’s mark for most career passing yards

The Augustana football team ended its two-game losing streak Saturday with a 44-31 win over Wayne State, and its signal-caller continued to cement his legacy as arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play for the Vikings.

Senior Trey Heid became the school’s all-time leader in passing yards with 310 yards in the win. He completed 23-of-32 passes and threw four touchdowns while rushing for 70 yards and another score.

Heid now has 9,728 career passing yards, breaking the previous record of 9,500, which Eric DeGraff held for 16 years.

“We can’t say enough about this young man,” head coach Jerry Olszewski said. “Watching him grow these past couple years has been a great pleasure of mine.”

Senior receiver Matt Heller returned with a vengeance from a concussion he suffered against USF, catching nine passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

Fellow senior wideout Charlie Hayes caught four passes for 41 yards and two scores.

“It was a big win for us,” sophomore safety Trevor Naasz said. “We haven’t lost focus these past few weeks, and it showed Saturday.”

Augustana pulled away in the second half after holding a 20-17 lead at the break.

“We still have stuff to work on,” Olszewski said. “We know that if we play our game for four quarters every Saturday, we will be in good shape down the stretch.”

The win against Wayne State doesn’t guarantee anything—the Vikings still likely need to win the rest of their games to make the playoffs. Augustana’s next test will be Saturday against Minnesota State-Mankato at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.

“We know we have to win out to go to the postseason,” Naasz said. “We all have each other’s back on this team, and we know we can compete with the best in the conference.”

Mankato, like Augustana, is 4-2. The Mavericks lost to No. 22 Bemidji State in their second game of the year and fell to Winona State Oct. 1.

The Mavericks likely must win their remaining games, too, as a three-loss team has only made the playoffs twice in the last three seasons.

“It’s no doubt this is must-win for us right now,” sophomore kicker Jeff Glassburner said. “But we were in this position before last year. We have played in this position before so we know exactly what we are facing.”

The Vikings were 4-2 in 2015 after a loss to No. 1 MSU-Mankato before winning their final five games, earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2010.