WICHITA, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- The McPherson College football team was held to just 256 yards of total offense in a 14-7 loss to Friends University Sunday at Adair-Austin Stadium.
The first half, which was interrupted by persistent lightning, was played Saturday afternoon. More severe weather popped up during a shortened halftime period, lingering around long enough to force officials to postpone the second half until Sunday.
Starting the game in blustery conditions Saturday afternoon, neither team was able to gain any traction on offense. Heading into the a stiff south wind, McPherson took the opening kickoff and drove to midfield before Mackenzie Evans picked off
Ed Crouch (Miami Gardens, Fla., Coffeyville CC) at the McPherson 17 on a pass intended for
Eman McNeal (Aurora, Colo., Hinkley HS). Friends was not able to do anything with the the takeaway and were forced to punt. Towards the end of the first quarter, the Falcons used a pair of timeouts to force McPherson to punt into the wind deep in their own territory. Taking over at midfield, Friends used the short field to mount their first sustained drive. The Falcons converted a fourth-and-1 and a third-and-12 in the series, getting to the 11-yard line before the drive was snuffed out when
Trey Bender (Abilene, Kan., Garden City CC) intercepted a Kevin Folsom pass in the end zone.
Aided by a 33-yard pass from Crouch to
Jackson Goodmiller (St. George, Kan., Rock Creek HS), the Bulldogs were able to get across midfield on the ensuing possession, but the drive stalled and McPherson was once again forced to punt.
RJ Garza (McAllen, Texas, Roma HS) was able to pin Friends inside their own 20 but the Falcons quickly got out of the shadow of their own end zone with a 10-yard run by Triton Douglas and a 20-yard pass from Folsom to Jacob Cron before lightning was sighted in the area.
Play resumed after a delay of 1 hour, 15 minutes, and almost immediately Folsom found Nick Franklin for a 19-yard completion. Trailing on the play,
Dominic DeLuca (Hutchinson, Kan., Trinity Catholic HS) jarred the ball loose from Franklin's grasp and recovered the fumble at the McPherson 30. The Falcon defense forced a three-and-out and took over at their own 28 after a Garza punt. Friends drove down to the McPherson 5-yard line and appeared to break the scoreless tie when Cron caught a 5-yard pass from Folsom in the end zone. Cron was called for offensive pass interference on the play, however, nullifying the touchdown. Folsom was sacked by
Isaiah Hill (Santa Maria, Calif., Alan Hancock CC) for a 5-yard loss on the ensuing play and Leo Sosa's 42-yard field goal attempt had the distance but sailed wide left of the uprights to keep the game scoreless as the game went to the half.
The lightning detectors fired up again during an abbreviated halftime break and, after a wait of nearly 90 minutes, the decision was made to send both teams home and pick things up the following day.
The game resumed Sunday afternoon under sunny skies and minimal wind. With more favorable throwing weather, Friends used a balanced approach in the second half, mixing in runs by Noah Diaz and Douglas with passes by Folsom and Dan Dawdy. Taking the second half kickoff, the Falcons were able to move the ball from their own 23 into McPherson territory before the drive stalled. The Bulldogs gained 13 yards on their first offensive play of the second half but went three-and-out from there and were forced to punt.
With Dawdy at the helm for second Friends drive of the third quarter, the Falcons marched down the field. Dawdy found Diaz out of the back field for 14 yard on the first play of the drive, then hit Franklin for 11 yards and Blake Crandall for eight more, while Diaz netted 13 yards on four carries before Dawdy hit Camp for a 19-yard touchdown over the middle to complete the 8-play, 65-yard drive.
McPherson's drive ended with a turnover on downs at the Friends 33 after the Bulldogs had moved 42 yards on 12 plays. The teams traded punts on the next two drives as the game moved into its final stanza. Friends' first possession of the fourth quarter was short-lived as Diaz was stripped by
Thomas Lanktree (Magnsa, Utah, Cypress HS) after a four-yard gain.
Ashton Serpas (Saucir, Miss., Holmes CC) pounced on the loose ball to give McPherson the ball at its' own 46. After gaining a first down, it looked as though the drive might stall as Crouch was forced to throw the ball away under pressure to give the Bulldogs a third-and-5 at the Friends 39, but Crouch found
Cullen Grabast (Osborne, Kan., Osborne HS) for a 20-yard gain to get inside the red zone. McNeal drew a pass interference call on the next play to move the ball to the 6-yard line before Crouch hit Goodmiller on the outside for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs' enthusiasm was quickly dampened as Friends responded with a seven-play, 64-yard drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass from Folsom to Clayton Stuart. Folsom had found Douglas twice earlier on the drive, once for 13 yards, and then again for 17 yards on short passes out of the backfield. McPherson was forced into another three-and-out on the ensuing drive, giving the ball back to Friends with 7:05 to play. The Falcons went just 29 yards on 11 plays, but drained 4:39 off the clock before punting into the end zone for a touchback.
Taking over with no timeouts and just 2:26 to play, McPherson quickly got a first down as Crouch completed passes to McNeal and Campbell. After a pair of incomplete passes, Crouch kept the drive alive with another completion to Campbell, this one for six yards, and a five-yard scramble on fourth-and-4. Forced to pass to conserve the clock, three straight pass attempts fell incomplete and Crouch's fourth-down pass to Goodmiller was intercepted by Evans at the Friends 36. A pair of kneeldowns exhausted the clock to end the game.
Crouch was 14-of-32 through the air for 153 yards a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. He also ran for 33 yards on 16 carries. Campbell led the Bulldogs with 54 yards on 18 carries and caught two passes for 15 yards. Goodmiller led all McPherson receivers with seven catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Hill had 10 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Serpas added nine tackles, a tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and two pass break-ups, while
Alwin Crawford (Roanoke, Texas, Byron Nelson HS) had eight tackles, including a team-best seven solo stops.
Friends out-gained McPherson, 444-256, and held a 28-16 edge in first downs. Most of the damage was done through the air and most of that came in Sunday's second half. Folsom and Dawdy combined to throw for 300 yards, 190 after halftime. Folsom was 17-of-27 for 205 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Dawdy was a perfect 9-or-9 for 95 yards and a score. Folsom was also the Falcons' leading rusher with 57 yards on 20 carries. Diaz added 56 yards on 14 carries, while Douglas finished with 38 yards on 11 carries.
Cron was leading receiver for Friends, hauling in seven passes for 98 yards. Camp added four catches for 32 yards, while Diaz added three grabs for 49 yards out of the backfield.
Josh Lewis led the Friends defense with 11 tackles, including nine solo stops.
"[Friends] is really talented on the outside at cornerback, which made us work toward the middle of the field and we weren't able to do that today," said head coach
Paul Mierkewicz. "It looked like we were getting a good amount of pressure [from the Friends defense], but it also felt like we had some time to do some things. We just weren't hitting on all cylinders today [on offense]. Our defense played well, but we just put them in too many bad situations. They made plays when they could and got some turnovers, we just couldn't pull anything together offensively. We have a short week and we need to get healthy as some guys were banged up early, especially defensively. There is a lot of work to do to prepare [for Saint Mary]."
The Bulldogs (3-4, 2-4 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) hit the road for the final time in the 2017 season next Saturday (Oct. 28) when they travel to Leavenworth to face the University of Saint Mary. The Spires (3-5, 2-4 KCAC) fell at Ottawa, 38-24, on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. from Berkel Memorial Stadium.
