Bulldogs rout Sterling

McPherson College's Lucus Lanning crunches Sterling's Terry Harrison, with backup from Chris Polanco.

By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor

It was a potential letdown game for McPherson College's Bulldogs here Saturday.

Instead, the Bulldogs never let up against winless Sterling, dominating the game from start to finish for a 35-14 victory.

The win improved the Bulldogs to 3-2 in the KCAC, now just one game back of tri-leaders Ottawa, Bethany and Kansas Wesleyan. The logjam was created when Wesleyan went on the road to stun Ottawa 21-0, while Bethany had to rally from 14 points down to nip Saint Mary, 42-41.

"The defense played well and for the most part they've played well all year," said Mac coach David Cunningham, whose team is now 4-2 overall, surpassing last year's victory total with four games still remaining. "Offensively, we put a couple of nice drives together in the second half when we needed it. Sterling has the kind of offense that if it clicks, it can score some points."

The Bulldogs built a 21-6 halftime lead, with Sterling lending a helping hand. It tried a fake punt from its own 25 in the first quarter that was snuffed out, which led to the first of Erik Johnson's three rushing touchdowns. Before the quarter was over, Mac's Brandon Keim picked off a Terry Harrison pass and returned it 45 yards for a score. In the second quarter, Johnson hooked up with John Berlanga for a 3-yard TD pitch.

In the second half, the Bulldogs kept the ball most of the time, including touchdowns drives of 12 and 15 plays.

"We needed that long drive (the 15-play)," Cunningham said. "That lasted almost nine minutes. We didn't want them to have the ball."

Johnson capped both drives with touchdown runs of 5 and 10 yards.

Mac, the KCAC's top rushing team, pounded out 232 yards on the ground despite the fact the conference's top rusher, Kevin Steiner, didn't play as he's suffering from pneumonia.

In his stead stepped diminutive Nick Griggs, who came up with 117 yards on 24 carries.

"Nick is such a class guy," Cunningham said. "He's such a good student and sings in the choir. I'm just so happy for him."

Mac's defense gave up just 211 yards. The Bulldogs had four sacks, led by Freddie Nails with two.

Mac's schedule gets tougher the rest of the way, starting Saturday at Kansas Wesleyan.

STATISTICS

Mac Listed First

First Downs -- 19, 11. Rushing -- 57-241; 29-141. Passing -- 10-23-0-77; 6-20-1-70. Punts-Avg. -- 6-36.0; 5-34.2. Penalties-Yards -- 6-58; 3-20. Fumbles-Lost -- 1-0, 0-0.

INDIVIDUALS

Rushing

Mac -- Griggs 24-117, Johnson 17-61, Cole 4-33, Boatner 5-13, J.M. Bingham 2-11, Dufrene 3-7, Trevino 1-5, Gamez 1-4.

Sterling (top two) -- Peters 16-95, Harrison 11-43.

Passing

Mac -- Johnson 10-23-0-77.

Sterling -- Harrison 6-20-1-70.

Receiving

Mac -- Mireles 3-24, Berlanga 3-18, Cole 2-21, Ullom 1-12, Irvine 1-2.

Sterling -- Krone 2-31, Peters 2-22, Johnson 2-17.