It’s second down, the final few ticks are winding down on the play clock. Iowa football fans are already standing and applauding their Hawkeyes, who momentarily would move to 8-3 after beating Illinois, 19-10. But the game wasn’t finished yet.

In his final game at Kinnick Stadium, senior linebacker Kristian Welch put an exclamation point on his superb Senior Day performance, sacking Illinois backup quarterback Matt Robinson as time expired.

“To have a walk-off sack in your last game in Kinnick, you couldn’t ask for much more than that,” Welch said.

Welch returned in Iowa’s Week 12 matchup against Minnesota after having missed the previous three games. He was determined to play in his final two games at Kinnick, especially against the Illini on Senior Day.

“Trainers were probably annoyed of me, to be quite honest,” Welch said. “With how much I was in there, they were like, ‘You do have to rest sometimes.’ And I’m just like, ‘Whatever gets me back.’”

Welch did more than play against Illinois. He excelled.

Welch led Iowa with 12 tackles on Nov. 23, including 10 solo stops. The senior also tallied the walk-off sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Another big play for Iowa’s captain on defense came halfway through the fourth quarter when Welch forced a fumble as the Illini attempted to mount a late comeback.

“On that particular play, their tackle was trying to come up on me, and I knew I had to beat him in order to get across his face,” Welch said. “So, I came up to him, and I hit him, and I came across exactly kind of how I wanted it to happen. The quarterback was right there and kind of stuck his head down. I was fortunate to get the ball out, and we were able to really change the momentum.”

Iowa turned the fumble recovery into a field goal, making it a two-possession game and — with the way the Iowa defense was playing — sealing the victory.

Moments such as sacking the quarterback or forcing a fumble are what drove Welch while he rehabbed his injury, which was always evident to his teammates.

“Kristian, he’s been working for a long time,” senior cornerback Michael Ojemudia said. “He’s gone through injuries from earlier in the season, and I’m really proud of the way that he worked. During practice, he was always focused, being a leader. He put the time and the work, and you can see on the field that he’s been really focused on his craft his senior year.”

Welch saw the field early in his career at Iowa as a special-teams players before becoming a rotational player as a sophomore. Last season, Welch cracked the starting lineup six times.

Now, as a senior, Welch is playing the best football of his career.

“I’m smiling here thinking of the first time I saw him — it was a spring practice, he was a junior or sophomore,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He and his dad were here, and there was something about the way he looked. He looked like a football player to me.”

Welch is a story that has been seen countless times at Iowa, particularly under Ferentz — a small-town player who was lightly recruited out of high school, working his way into playing time.

That work paid off for Welch on Senior Day.

“I came from a town in Wisconsin with 1,200 people,” Welch said. “I mean, there’s like four streets, five taverns. I always make fun of small towns in Wisconsin for having more bars than anything else. Being from a small town — we had 52 in my graduating class — that shaped me.”