FOREST CITY, Iowa - Trailing at halftime against a winless team, Doane (2-8) scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second half to rally past Waldorf (0-10) 27-17 in the final game of the 2025 season on Saturday afternoon in Forest City. 

The win guaranteed the Tigers would avoid finishing in last place in the GPAC for the 2025 season, and relegated the Warriors to their second consecutive winless campaign since they joined the conference. 

But that win did not come easily. Waldorf hadn't even scored 50 points over their first nine games of the season, but the home team came out inspired facing the reality of losing all ten games for the second year in a row: the Warriors scored a field goal and a touchdown on their first two drives to move in front early. The field goal was set up after Doane was unable to execute their own field goal operation: the snap sailed over holder Derek Silva's head and eventually was recovered on Doane's half of the field. A few plays later, Connor Parker converted a season-long 37-yarder to give the home team an early lead. 

Doane wasted no time engineering a response drive: Tiger senior Blake Allen bruised his way in for a two-yard touchdown, the first rushing score by a Doane running back this season, with 11 seconds left in the first quarter. But Waldorf countered right back with a rushing score from quarterback Chris Walter in the same part of the field, restoring a 10-7 Waldorf lead. 

Both defenses finished the first half strong, and a Sam Hartman Hail Mary attempt on the final play of the game was intercepted in the end zone by wide receiver Luke Valdez, securing a 10-7 lead for Waldorf at the break - a rare lead for the Warriors at any time this season, much less at halftime. 

Facing the prospect of losing to the lowest ranked team in the GPAC and one of the lowest performing teams in the entire NAIA, the Tigers put together a much better showing after the intermission. One of head coach Jonathan Johnson's core teachings in his two seasons at the helm has been "fight to the finish," and his team lived out that mantra in their final chance in 2025. 

Doane's defense triggered a turnover on downs and then a three and out against Waldorf's scuffling offense to start the second half, and that served as the kickstarter for the Doane offense. The Tigers scored on three straight possessions after that, with Hartman linking up with standout senior wideouts Andrew Waido once and John DeRiso twice for scores. The final score was set up by corner JaKarion Jackson's team-leading fourth interception of the season. With 9:20 to play in the game, Doane had flipped a 10-7 deficit into a 27-10 lead. 

Waldorf didn't go away quietly. The Warriors embarked on a scoring drive of their own that ended with Walter floating a pass to Angel Ruiz at the side of the end zone for the score. That made it a 10-point game again, but the drive took longer than six minutes and left less than three minutes to play. Waldorf tried an onside kick but Doane recovered, and from there it was mostly academic: Hartman was able to kneel out a game for the first time this season, putting the finishing touches on a 27-17 victory for the Tigers in their final game of the 2025 season. 

Hartman turned in one of his best performances of the season in the final game of his sophomore year, finishing 27-of-33 for 260 yards and three touchdowns with one interception coming on the Hail Mary. Allen made the most of his one year in a Tiger uniform and emerged as the team's top tailback once he took the field ahead of Doane's first win of the season against Midland, while longtime Tiger Rian Green was solid as Allen's fill-in. The two combined for over 100 yards on the ground in their final games. 

DeRiso and Waido were both two of the most reliable pass-catchers in the conference this season and should be all-conference candidates after finishing inside the league's top five in receiving yards: they combined for 22 catches and 185 and three scores in their final collegiate games. Meanwhile, Reece Zutavern ends the season as the number one tackler in the GPAC with 118, 14 more than anyone else; he closed his career with nine total tackles and a solo sack, and should be an all-conference honoree. Doane's next three leading tacklers were all seniors as well: Jarrett Boggs, Liban Farah, and Tanner Simdorn. 

Doane earned a hard-fought but exciting win on the road in the 2024 season finale (a thriller against Mount Marty), and tried to leverage that win into success on the recruiting trail and the 2025 season. That season netted two wins, one fewer than the previous year, but even with many key seniors departing, this win over Waldorf should serve as a springboard for a Doane program that feels it is only a few pieces away from returning to GPAC contention under Johnson and Company. 

Morningside defeated Dordt in overtime to capture the GPAC regular season championship. Meanwhile, Northwestern let a halftime lead slip away and lost to Concordia, knocking the Red Raiders out of postseason contention with four losses; the Mustangs and Defenders will be the conference's only playoff participants this season, but both will have first-round byes and will be favored to make postseason runs in the NAIA field of 20.