McPHERSON, Kan. --- The McPherson College football team scored 19 fourth-quarter points and recovered a late onside kick but could not complete the comeback in a 21-19 loss to Friends University Saturday at McPherson Stadium in the annual Homecoming game.
The Falcons (4-3, 3-2 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) took the opening kickoff and kept the ball on the ground in their opening drive, calling 15 straight running plays and milking nearly eight minutes off the clock. The drive came to a halt inside the red zone when Friends quarterback Brett Darling had the ball stripped away by
Zach Neilson (Solomon, Kan.) at the 10-yard line.
Chandler Tisby (Houston, Texas) scooped up the loose ball at the 9 to give the Bulldogs their first crack on offense.
McPherson (1-6, 1-4 KCAC) took the turnover and mounted a sustained drive of their own. The Bulldogs showed a steady mix of run and pass on the 13-play, 59-yard drive, getting a couple of big runs from
Tyrone Campbell (Oakland, Calif.) and a 12-yard completion from
Ed Crouch (Miami Gardens, Fla.) to
Tyler Giron (Houston, Texas) on third-and-10 to keep the drive alive. The effort stalled in Friends territory, however, leading to a 49-yard field goal attempt by
Calef Contreras (Dallas, Texas). Contreras' low line-drive kick escaped the wall of Falcon blockers and had the distance but sailed wide left of the uprights.
Neither team was able to gain traction in their second chances with the ball, but with its third possession, Friends continued it ball-control offense. The Falcons moved 75 yards on 19 plays, taking nearly nine minutes off the clock, before Tyler Trego scored from three yards out with just 14 seconds left in the half. Friends converted three separate fourth-down plays in the drive. Workhorse running back Jesse Rogers had 10 carries for 47 yards.
To start the second half, McPherson sandwiched three-and-outs around a 9-play Friends drive that ended at the Bulldog 21 when
Javion Brewster (Denton, Texas) and
Mason Baugh (Canton, Texas) stopped Brett Darling's quarterback sneak attempt on a fourth down.
The Falcons scored on their second drive of the half as Darling scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper. The key play of the 9-play, 66-yard drive was a 42-yard end-around pass from Sam Camp to Blake Crandall that set Friends up with a first-and-goal at the McPherson 10.
On its next drive, McPherson looked to be stalled near midfield, but converted on a fourth-and-1. Campbell later added a 19-yard run to take the ball inside the Friends 20-yard line. The Bulldogs scored two plays later on a 17-yard Crouch-to-Campbell pitch-and-catch. Contreras' point-after attempt was blocked, leaving Friends with a 14-6 lead.
The McPherson defense forced Friends into a three-and-out on its next drive. The Bulldogs received an extra bit of fortune when Kolby Gregory's punt traveled only eight yards, setting the McPherson offense up at the Falcons' 32-yard line. Two-plays later, Crouch found
Anthony Schmidt (Fountain, Colo.) for a 27-yard touchdown. McPherson went for two, but Crouch's pass intended for Campbell sailed high.
Friends leaned on Jesse Rogers heavily on its next drive, running the ball nine straight times - seven by Rogers - to advance to the McPherson 25. After a third-down pass attempt was broken up by
Braden Bush (Blanchard, Okla.), Darling found Glen Whisby for a 25-yard TD to give the Falcons a 21-12 lead.
The teams each turned the ball over on downs on their next drive, leaving McPherson with the ball at its own 39 with just 2:44 to play. The Bulldog struck quickly Crouch found Campbell on a swing pass to move the ball to midfield. After an incomplete pass to Giron, Crouch and Campbell hooked up again. This time, Campbell danced down the sideline before being stopped short of the goal line. Crouch scored from 3-yards out on the next play to cut the lead to 21-18. A
Travis Steenson (McPherson, Kan.) PAT made it 21-19.
The Bulldogs also recovered the ensuing onside kick by Contreras as
Kavoderic McIntyre (Dallas, Texas) took the ball on a high bounce near the sideline, leaving McPherson at its own 46. Crouch was sacked on first down and nearly made up all of the lost yardage on second down but incomplete passes to Schmidt on third and fourth down gave the ball back to Friends on downs. A pair of Darling kneeldowns ended the contest.
The Falcons' ball-control offense won the time-of-possession battle by a 2-1 margin, holding the ball for over 40 minutes. In that time, Friends ran 83 plays to McPherson's 54, including a whopping 70 on the ground for 225 yards. Rogers finished with 182 yards on 41 carries. No other runner gained more than 21 yards on the ground. Darling was 8-of-12 for 67 yards and a TD, while Camp finished 1-for-1 for 42 yards on the end-around pass. Camp, Blake Crandall and Matt Melillo each had two catches with Crandall going for a team-high 47 yards.
Defensively, Friends was led by Flozell Nipper, Javon Polk, Josh Lewis and Tim Hamilton with five stops each.
Crouch finished 9-of-26 for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air and had 13 carries for just 34 yards on the ground after coming in trailing only Rogers on the KCAC's rushing charts. Campbell had 13 carries for a solid 123 yards, however. He was also the Bulldogs' top receiver with three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Brandt Wolters (Osborne, Kan.) with two catches for 16 yards was the only other McPherson player with multiple grabs.
Travis Steenson led an active McPherson defense with 24 tackles, including seven solo stops and a tackle for loss. He also kicked off and had an extra point. Braden Bush added 16 tackles (five solo), shared a tackle for loss and broke up a pair of passes, while
Dalton Whitfield (Cleveland, Ga.) had 15 stops (six solo).
"There were times when we did some really good things. We just need to do that more consistently," said head coach
Paul Mierkiewicz. "Friends was an extremely physical team, and we knew that going in. I'll continue to keep [going into battle] with this team because of how they've worked and prepared all year. If they continue to stick together, things will work out."
After alternating home and away dates the last few weeks, the Bulldogs get a second consecutive home game next Saturday when the University of Saint Mary visits McPherson Stadium for Service Appreciation Day. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.
