The young McPherson College Bulldogs are making the same old mistakes.
The Friends Falcons took advantage of Mac miscues to score all three of their touchdowns in a 20-0 victory Saturday in a football game played in a constant rain.
"We're just young. Until they realize they can't turn it over to win a ballgame, we're going to keep doing this," said Mac coach Dan Davis, whose team -- more than half of which are freshmen -- fell to 0-2 on the year. "We play hard, but we're awful, awful young and it's showing."
Mistake No. 1 occurred early in the first quarter. The Bulldogs' defense had stopped the Falcons to force a punt, but on the kick, a Mac defender lost sight of the ball and was hit, with Friends recovering. The Falcons drove in for the game's first score, a 1-yard run by quarterback Brandon Jones, a transfer from Baylor University.
Two plays later, Mac quarterback Jason Gondringer was picked off by Landon Langston, who zipped 23 yards to make it 14-0.
That's the way it stood at the half. In the third quarter, the Bulldogs made a passel of errors that literally handed the Falcons their final score.
Mac had made a fine defensive stop deep in Friends territory. Falcon punter Noe Duran fumbled the snap and was tackled at the 2-yard line, but Mac was whistled for a face mask, good for an automatic first down.
Mac again stiffened, but on fourth down the Bulldogs fumbled the punt and Friends retained the ball. Again, the Bulldog defense did the job, but was hit with a personal foul on a play where Dallas Blacklock came up with an interception for the Bulldogs. Friends finally scored on Jones' second 1-yard plunge.
Jones, a 6-3 and 225-pounder, finished with 102 yards on 19 option rushes. "He ran the option well. He ran it better than we thought he would," Davis said.
The Mac defense actually played quite well, as it held the Falcons to 265 yards on 74 snaps, less than four yards a play. Linebacker Jason Schwartz had his second straight huge game with 19 tackles and safety David Snodgrass was in on 16.
But the Mac offense struggled mightily with just 104 yards. Freshman Harold Harris showed some toughness with 56 hard-earned yards.
The Bulldogs are still without running back Jay Williams, the expected top offensive weapon, as he has some paperwork problems concerning his transfer that still haven't been settled.
Mac will be home again Saturday to take on Southwestern.
STATISTICS
Mac Listed First
First Downs -- 7, 17. Rushes-Yards -- 42-102; 60-220. Passing -- 1-9-1-2; 3-14-1-45. Punts-Avg. -- 10-29.5; 7-29.2. Fumbles-Lost -- 4-3; 4-0. Penalties-Yards -- 8-83; 11-99.
INDIVIDUALS
Rushing
Mac -- Harris 19-56, Eason 9-9, Gondringer 3-20, Cacal 11-17.
Friends -- Jones 19-102, Johnson 19-57, Spencer 9-50, Seiler 6-20, Negron 1-(-1), Duran 1-(-11), Stange 1-1, Habtemariam 3-(-1), Puetz 1-3.
Passing
Mac -- Gondringer 1-8-1-2, Eason 0-1-0-0.
Friends -- Jones 3-14-1-45.
Receiving
Mac -- McClintic 1-2.
Friends -- Caram 2-41, Milton 1-4.
