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Gridders fall 30-28 in Leavenworth
McPherson College cranked out 458 yards of offense, but special teams break downs and untimely thrown flags came back to haunt the Bulldogs as they dropped a 30-28 decision to the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth.
“A very tough loss,” offered Brian Ward, McPherson head coach immediately following the game.
Led by the KCAC’s leading passer, the Spires of Saint Mary took the opening kickoff and drove to the McPherson six-yard line before the Bulldog defense stiffened and forced USM to settle for a 23-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead four minutes into the game.
The Bulldogs immediately answered the challenge, driving 62 yards in 10 plays, capped by Aaron Sunday’s 10-yard touchdown toss to Gary Cox. A key play in the drive was Sunday’s 28-yard pass to Cain Wright for a first down.
Travis Eason’s successful PAT kick bumped the Bulldogs’ lead to 7-3 with 6:09 remaining in the period.
After a 34-yard kickoff return, USM set up its offense near mid-field and proceeded to drive to the Bulldog 10-yard line, but again the McPherson defense held, setting up another field goal attempt. The Spires though had a different thought, but their pass off the fake field goal was dropped in the endzone leaving the score 7-3.
The Bulldog offense immediately went to work, moving from its own 10 to the 41-yard line. Facing a fourth and three, the Bulldogs’ Thomas Staut took a fake punt and rambled 51 yards down the west sideline to the Spires’ eight. On the final play of the first quarter, Sunday hit Stephen Harrison in the corner of the endzone for the touchdown and a 14-3 McPherson lead heading into quarter number two.
After a strange “illegal touch” call, when it appeared the Bulldog receiver had been forced out-of-bounds, stopped McPherson’s next drive and forced the Bulldogs to punt, USM took over at its own 7-yard line and drove the length of the field to paydirt, aided by a face mask penalty on the Dogs, narrowing the McPherson lead to 14-10 with 3:31 remaining in the half.
Stephen Harrison returned the kickoff 23 yards to set up the Bulldogs at their own 49-yard line. From there it took only five plays to score, the final 11 yards coming on a tough, up-the-gut run by Scotty Moore for the touchdown. With Eason’s third PAT kick, McPherson led 21-10 with 2:20 still to play until halftime.
That was plenty of time for the Spires as they drove 80-yards in nine plays, all through the air and aided by a personal foul call on the Bulldogs, to score with 44 ticks remaining until the break. The Spires’ PAT kick failed, leaving McPherson on top 21-16.
McPherson had one more chance to score in the final 40 seconds. Driving from their own 33, the Bulldogs advanced to the Spires’ 26, but with time running out, Eason’s 43-yard field goal attempt was wide.
After McPherson went three-and-out on the opening possession of the third period, Saint Mary took over at its own 27-yard line and proceeded to drive the necessary 73 yards in nine plays, split 5-4, runs to passes, to post the lead-grabbing score. Now up by one (22-21), the Spires went for two points on the conversion and completed the pass for a 24-21 lead.
McPherson’s next two possessions ended with a lost fumble and an interception, while USM suffered a pass interception of its own in between.
Setting up at its own 18-yard line following a Spires punt, McPherson moved quickly downfield. Keyed by Sunday’s back-to-back 28-yard pass completions to Gary Cox and Andy Skinner, then a 15-yarder to Cox, the Bulldogs advanced to the USM six-yard line. Faced with a fourth and four at that point, the Bulldogs called on Eason for the game-tying field goal, but much to the amazement of the press box staff, the kick was declared wide left, leaving McPherson still down 24-21.
The final period of the contest was a game of time of possession and the University of Saint Mary won, 22 snaps to the Bulldogs’ nine.
When Scott Jones’ recovery of a loose ball stopped the Spires’ continuing possession from the third quarter, the Bulldogs immediately went to Cox for 26 yards through the air, but holding penalty on the play, followed by a seven-yard run and two incomplete passes ended the drive.
USM then methodically drove downfield; starting at its own 32, taking 10 plays, aided by two more long-range calls, one a hold and the other pass interference, before scoring from 21-yards out for a 30-21 lead. Again, the Spires’ PAT kick was no good leaving the Bulldogs with a glimmer of hope.
Stephen Harrison’s 30-yard kickoff return gave the Bulldogs new life at the Spires’ 43-yard line and from there it only took four plays, plus a personal foul on the Spires, to reach paydirt; the final 12-yards coming on a Sunday to Harrison pass. With Eason’s fourth PAT of the day, the Bulldogs were only down by two with 6:28 still on the game clock.
McPherson would have possession of the ball for just one more play though as a pass interception on an underthrown ball ended the Bulldogs’ final possession and the Spires ground out the final six plus minutes, getting one final, necessary first down to hold on for the 30-28 win, the first for the Spires on their new on-campus facility.
“It was frustrating. We had our opportunities; we missed two field goals. The three second half turnovers were huge.”
“We believe we have the best kicker in the conference. We hit either one of those and it is the difference in the game.”
“Special team errors, a couple of turnovers by the offense; we aren’t going to over come those the way they were moving the ball.”
“Still, we had ever opportunity to win this football game. It was just real frustrating to think it probably turned on some flags.”
Bulldog freshman quarterback Aaron Sunday won the statistical duel with the Spires’ Daniel Robles, the KCAC passing leader. Sunday finished the day career highs 23 of 35 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns, but two interceptions, while Robles was 27 of 46 for 270 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Gary Cox went over the 100-yard receiving mark for the third straight game, pulling in nine passes for 112 yards and one TD. Stephen Harrison caught eight passes, good for 68 yards and two touchdowns.
USM rushed for 194 yards on 43 carries while the Bulldogs picked up 143 yards on 28 attempts.
“Without our two big guys inside, we had difficulty stopping their run. We also weren’t able to generate any kind of pass rush.”
The loss dropped McPherson’s record to 2-2, both overall and in KCAC play, and into a tie for sixth in the conference race.
Next weekend, the Bulldogs entertain #25 Sterling in a Homecoming Weekend contest. Sterling, currently 2-1 in KCAC action after a big win over Bethel, is coming off a 38-14 non-conference loss to #10 Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Warriors have played what is likely the toughest early season schedule of any KCAC team, having lost to #7 Friends in their season opener, beating Tabor and then #13 Bethel before their loss last Saturday at Northwestern Oklahoma.
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