HILLSBORO -- The way the first half went Saturday, it appeared McPherson College and Tabor College were going to combine for 100 points and 1,000 yards.
The Bulldogs, with Jason Schwartz scoring just before the half, led 27-24 and totaled 279 yards to 272 for the Bluejays.
But as the weather turned bad, the scoring disappeared.
Actually, the Bulldogs had the ball for 54 plays and totaled 166 yards in the second half, but never scored. The Bluejays were also scoreless until 4:19 left in the game when Travis Davis threw a 31-yard TD pass to Henry Cantu to give Tabor the 31-27 victory.
For Tabor, it was a great improvement over last year's 0-10 season, as the Bluejays finished 3-7, one of those victories coming over Bethany.
For McPherson, Dan Davis' first year ended 1-8, with the only victory over Saint Mary College. However, it lost its last two games by a total of six points, both losses coming after it led late in the game.
What made this loss so painful was how the Bulldogs controlled the line of scrimmage. They ran off 92 plays for the game for 445 yards, and had two 100-yard rushers -- Jay Williams (129 yards on 16 carries) and Harold Harris (119 yards on 25 carries). Harris averaged over 100 yards for his last four games, stamping the freshman back as one of the KCAC's up-and-comers.
Ryan Ben-David scored Mac's first touchdown on a 10-yard fumble return. The other Mac scores were an 18-yard run by Williams and a 24-yard pass from Jason Gondringer to Omar Mireles. Gondringer finished with 155 yards passing.
Tabor basically gave up trying to run the football. It finished with 0 yards - - that's right, 0 -- but Davis punctured the Mac secondary for 294 yards and two touchdown passes.
The Mac defense the week before gave up only 3 yards rushing to Bethel, as the Bulldogs simply were dog-tough against the run.
STATISTICS
Mac Listed First
First Downs -- 16; 16. Rushes-Yards -- 51-290; 21-0. Passing -- 13-41-2-155; 18-46-1-356. Punts-Avg. -- 5-31.6; 8-25.6. Fumbles-Lost -- 4-1; 2-1. Penalties-Yards -- 9-78; 8-40.
INDIVIDUALS
Rushing
Mac -- Williams 16-129, Harris 25-119, Schwartz 5-49, Gondringer 5-(-7).
Tabor -- Marsh 13-44, Davis 6-(-34), Miller 2-(-10).
Passing
Mac -- Gondringer 13-41-2-155.
Tabor -- Davis 16-43-1-294, Funk 1-1-0-37, Insley 1-1-0-25, Marsh 0-1-0-0.
Receiving
Mac -- Berlanga 4-67, Harris 4-45, Williams 2-2, Mireles 1-24, McClitnic 1-12, Ullom 1-5.
Tabor -- MacKinnon 6-97, Ratzlaff 4-100, Cantu 3-107, Funk 3-26, Sharp 1-25, Marsh 1-1.
