Jays get in with win

By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor

McPherson College's Bulldogs seemed so close to Tabor College here Saturday, but yet finished so far away.

The Bluejays wrapped up a spot in the NAIA playoffs with a 26-7 victory, though it took a couple of plays to swing the momentum in Tabor's favor.

Tabor finished 9-1 overall and plays Saturday at Northwestern Oklahoma State. The KCAC also will be represented by conference champion Ottawa, which plays at Northwestern Iowa.

The Bulldogs finished the year 6-4, losing their final two games to the playoff qualifiers. At 5-4 in the KCAC, the Bulldogs finished in a tie for third with Southwestern and Bethany, the second straight year Mac has been in the upper division.

It was a disappointing loss for the Bulldogs, who made some critical mistakes at inopportune times, which the Bluejays cashed in on.

"The defense played pretty well and we moved the ball in the first half and couldn't score," said Mac coach David Cunningham, now 12-8 at Mac. "The second half we just couldn't get untracked offensively."

Tabor led 7-0 after a quarter. Mac had taken the opening kickoff and driven the length of the field, only to botch a field goal attempt. Tabor's first drive resulted in a 32-yard TD pass from Ricky Ishida to Tim Jones.

It appeared the half would end that way, but with just over two minutes to go, the Jays recovered a fumbled punt. Two plays later, Ishida hooked up with Tyson Ratzlaff for a 62-yard bomb and a 13-0 halftime lead.

Mac's Jason Henry recovered a fumble on the third play of the second half, setting up a 10-yard TD flip from Erik Johnson to John Berlanga to make it 13-7.

Mac then appeared to swing the tide. It stopped the Jays on the first two plays and then an incomplete pass would have been a three-and-out, but a 15-yard personal foul kept Tabor going. Instead of Mac making the Jays punt from inside their own 10, Tabor proceeded to march the distance, capped by an Ishida 3-yard run for a 19-7 lead.

Three minutes later, the Bluejays executed a perfect a fake punt, with Tyler Marsh throwing 50 yards to Jeff Mackinnon, as it continued the misery for the Mac special teams.

Cunningham said the game turned on the late hit on Ishida in the third quarter, since the Bulldogs would probably have gotten good field position.

"That was huge," he said. "The personal foul was the play of the game. I don't know if we win if we don't do that, but we weren't moving the ball very well."

Tabor held the Bulldogs to 254 yards, 184 of that coming in the first half. Once Mac got down, it took away the running of Lamar Jacobs, who finished with a season-low 57 yards on just 15 carries. Still, he rushed for 1,429 yards, by far a school record.

Berlanga had 4 catches for 125 yards as he closed his career in style.

Tabor had 352 yards, 261 through the air as the Bulldogs did a good job against the run.

"This was disappointing," Cunningham said of the loss. "We've got to make some changes in the way we do things and we'll look at that pretty quick. We've got to have 85 guys who are committed and 85 guys who aren't selfish and that's not always easy to find. But we're going to find that 85."

STATISTICS

Mac Listed First

First Downs -- 19, 14. Rushes-Yards -- 41-67; 37-91. Passing -- 12-31-1-187; 12-27-1-261. Punts-Avg. -- 5-34.6; 7-40.4. Fumbles-Lost -- 2-1; 2-1. Penalties-Yards -- 9-85; 15-150.

INDIVIDUALS

Rushing

Mac -- Jacobs 15-57, Eason 4-11, Chavez 4-26, Cole 4-16, E. Johnson 6-(-32), Heinen 1-(-11), Griggs 2-7, C. Johnson 3-(-7).

Tabor -- Jones 16-44, Brockman 8-22, Connat 4-7, Ishida 5-3, Marsh 2-17, Hernandez 2-2.

Passing

Mac -- E. Johnson 9-25-1-128, C. Johnson 2-5-0-56, Walden 1-1-0-3.

Tabor -- Ishida 11-22-0-211, Marsh 1-2-0-50, Hernandez 0-3-0-0.

Receiving

Mac -- Berlanga 4-125, Mireles 2-24, Jacobs 4-27, Ullom 1-8, Dufrene 1-3.

Tabor -- Ratzlaff 4-127, Marsh 4-43, Mackinnon 1-50, Neufeld 2-9, Jones 1-32.