Football | 9/8/2012 8:49:00 PM

Box Score [Box score]

ST. GEORGE, Utah - Six turnovers sealed the Wolves fate in their 2012 Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener. Dixie State scored 17 of its 24 points off Western Oregon giveaways to earn the 24-10 win on Saturday, Sept. 8.

Tail back AJ Johnson ran for 119 yards to help the Red Storm dominate on the ground 188 to 64. Quarterback Griff Robles rushed for 42 yards and a score. He completed just 11-of-33 passes but avoided the turnovers while never letting DSC trail in the game.

Robles would put Dixie State up 7-0 early in the first quarter when he found Conor Skarsky for a 16-yard touchdown strike following a 58-yard interception return by Cache Morgan.

Western Oregon then cut the lead to 7-3 on a Kelly Morgan 39-yard field goal. The three points capped off an 11-play, 63-yard drive.

Following a strong defensive stand in which WOU (0-2, 0-1 GNAC) held Dixie State (1-1, 1-0 GNAC) to a field goal after six stops within the eight yard line, the Wolves would get their lone touchdown of the game. After starting with the ball at midfield, VonAppen hit Lucas Gonsalves for a gain of 27 yards then connected with Joe Harris on a 29-yard scoring strike to knot the game at 10-10 going into the half.

Following intermission Dixie State's defense would dominate. DSC held WOU to minus-8 yards of offense in the third quarter while building a 24-10 lead. The Red Storm would seal the contest with four takeaways (two interceptions, two fumbles) in the second half.

Western Oregon's lone takeaway came via an interception from senior Bryce Peila. He picked off former Wolf Kaleo Nawahine and returned it 14 yards into Dixie State territory.

Sipili Tuigamalala led Western Oregon with nine tackles. Peila and Gustave Benthin added seven stops apiece. Benthin also had 2.5 tackles for loss. Gavin Drake picked up 1.5 sacks and six tackles.

Kenneth Haynes had 53 yards rushing to lead Western Oregon. Royce Spencer, Tyrell Williams and Tyler Davis all caught three passes. Spencer's three catches went for a team-best 65 yards.

Western Oregon will be home next week to face Central Washington in another GNAC game on Saturday (Sept. 15) at 1:00 p.m.