Football Tripped Up by Saint Mary, 17-7

McPHERSON, Kan. --- The McPherson College football team fell to 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 17-7 loss to the University of Saint Mary at McPherson Stadium Saturday.

After forcing a three-and-out from the Bulldogs on the opening drive of the game, the Spires (6-2, 5-1 KCAC) marched down the field thanks in part to a defensive holding call and a pair of 16-yard runs by Easton Ridley and Taylor Gilbert to get inside the McPherson 25-yard line. The drive stalled, however, and Saint Mary had to settle for a 39-yard field goal by Aiden Pirrin.

McPherson responded with a touchdown on its next drive as Ed Crouch (Miami Gardens, Fla.) scored from three yards out on a quarterback keeper. A Calef Contreras (Dallas, Texas) PAT made it 7-3. The key play of the drive was a 48-yard pitch-and-catch from Crouch to Anthony Schmidt (Fountain, Colo.) to set the Bulldogs up at the USM 9. Crouch scored two plays later.

Saint Mary immediately retook the lead, driving 66 yards on six plays with Drew Cortez finding Anthony Piscitelli from eight yards out for the capper on a fourth-and-1 play. The largest chunk of real estate was was picked up on a 46-yard pass from Cortez to Isai Fernandez.

On their first drive of the second quarter, the Spires added to the lead with another Cortez-to-Fernandez connection, this one just seven yards. The drive looked to be stalled near midfield after a 10-yard sack by Antonio David (Humble, Texas) left Saint Mary with a third-and-18, but Cortez found Domenic De Fiore for a 17-yard gain and then drew the Bulldogs offsides on fourth-and-1 to prolong the drive.

The Bulldogs had a chance to cut into the lead late in the first half. After taking over at his own 1-yard line after a well-place pooch punt by Cortez with 2:11 remaining, Crouch completed passes to Brandt Wolters (Osborne, Kan.) and Schmidt to get out of the shadow of his own end zone, then found Wolters for a 34-yard completion down to the USM 23. Wolters was able to get out of bounds on the play, but not before time ran out in the half.

Saint Mary missed an opportunity to extend the lead near the end of the third quarter. The Spires were the recipients of very favorable field position, taking over at the McPherson 22-yard line after the USM punt rush forced Bulldog punter RJ Garza (McAllen, Texas) to abort a potential kick. The McPherson defense limited Saint Mary to just two yards on the drive and then forced Pirrin to push a 37-yard field goal wide right.

The Bulldogs took over after the missed field goal and drove 50 yards on 10 plays, but Tyrone Campbell (Oakland, Calif.) was stopped one yard short of a first down on a fourth-and-1 play at the USM 30. McPherson forced a punt on USM's next drive, then preceded to embark on another 10-play drive. As the last had, that series also stalled inside the USM 30.

The Spires were content to bleed the game clock with its next drive, keeping the ball on the ground six times as 4:22 drained off the clock. The drive stalled near midfield, however, giving the Bulldogs another shot with favorable field position. Dwain Taylor intercepted Crouch three plays later to effectively end the game.

McPherson outgained Saint Mary, 284-272, overall but was limited to just 52 yards rushing. Ed Crouch finished 21-of-39 through the air for 232 yards and the late interception but was limited to just three net yards on seven carries. Campbell had 64 yards on 16 carries to lead the Bulldogs.

Crouch spread the ball around as seven different receivers caught passes, led by six each for Wolters and Jackson Goodmiller (St. George, Kan.). Wolters racked up 97 receiving yards while Goodmiller had 35. Schmidt added three catches for 77 yards.

As has been the case all season, the Spires' total offense was split nearly 50-50 between run and pass. Cortez was just 12-of-19 passing for 141 yards but did have the two TD passes. Fernandez had three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown while Jordan Cons (20 yards) and Piscitelli (15 yards, TD) each had two receptions.

Easton Ridley had 76 yards on 18 carries, while Zach Hilliard had 12 carries for 36 yards.

The Spires' two-headed punting attack of Pirrin and Cortez had a huge impact in the field-position battle, averaging 39 yards on five punts with one touchback and three kicks dropped inside the 10-yard line. Both of Cortez's pooch punts were downed inside the 2-yard line.

Defensively, Dalton Whitfield (Cleveland, Ga.) finished with a game-high 17 tackles (three solo) for McPherson, while defending KCAC Defensive Player of the Week Travis Steenson (McPherson, Kan.) added 16 stops (seven solo) with 3.0 tackles for loss. KyRandall Smith led Saint Mary with 13 tackles with half a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.

"I was really impressed with [Saint Mary's] offensive and defensive lines," said head coach Paul Mierkiewicz. "They gave us a lot of problems. We just weren't able to get any big plays going and that has been a recurring theme for us. That certainly cost us on the scoreboard today, for sure."

The Bulldogs hit the road the next two weekends, facing rivals Tabor (5-2, 5-1 KCAC) on Saturday, October 29, and Sterling (5-2, 4-2 KCAC) on Saturday, November 5. The Bluejays were ranked 18th and the Warriors 25th in this week's NAIA Coaches Top 25. Kickoff for both of those games is 1:30 p.m.