Photo by Natalia Ahrens
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College football team capped off a perfect Homecoming with a 20-17 win over the Friends University Falcons.
The Bulldogs racked up 224 yards of total offense with the 35 coming on the ground, led by LaMeshio Hills (Sr. Rialto, Calif.) who had 29, and 189 through the air, led by Max Tucker (Sr. St. Charles, Ill.) who was 24 of 32 with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Trent Graves (Fr. Colorado Springs, Colo.) made his debut for the Bulldogs at QB on Saturday. He got in for one series, going 2 for 3 for 16 yards. Nine different receivers caught passes from the Bulldog quarterbacks, led by Ben Nikkel (Jr. McPherson, Kan.), who hauled in seven passes for 106 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs gave up 391 yards, 79 on the ground, and 312 through the air. A pair of linebackers, Cory Chairs (Fr. New Orleans, La.) and Kollin Goering (Jr. McPherson, Kan.) led the Bulldogs in tackles. Both had two solo tackles, and then assisted on 11 others. Chairs also ended up with a half sack and one and a half tackles for a loss.
Three Bulldogs came away with a turnover. Ian Smith (Fr. Round Rock, Texas) and Tristan Waddy (Jr. Houston, Texas) picked off the Friends quarterback, ad Kendryk Rankin (R-Jr. Fountain, Colo.) recovered a Falcon fumble.
On special teams, Melvin Reid (Jr. Winslow, N.J.) continues to turn heads. For the third time in four games, Reid took a return to the house. The Falcons made the mistake of punting to Reid and he made them pay. He caught the ball on the Bulldog 21 wove his way through traffic for a 79 yard touchdown.
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start against the Falcons. Reid got MC on the board with his electric punt return on the second Falcon drive of the game, but a missed extra point by Caden Bush (Fr. Watkinsville, Ga.) kept the score at 6-0. After a three and out by the Bulldog defense, the Bulldog offense went 50 yards in seven plays, culminating in a 17 yard touchdown pass from Tucker to Nikkel on third and 17.
In the second quarter, the only score was a touchdown from the Falcons, cutting the Bulldog lead to 13-7 heading into the halftime intermission. After the break, the Falcons kept the momentum going, and tacked on three more points on a 30 yard field goal.
Leading by just a field goal, the Bulldogs momentarily got some breathing room when Tucker found Reid for an eight yard score. With 4:40 left on the clock the Falcons put the pressure on the Bulldogs, going 89 yards in 12 plays and scoring a touchdown to get back to within three points, 20-17. The Falcons tried an onside kick, but were called for a penalty, touching the ball before it had traveled the required 10 yards.
The Bulldogs were unable to do anything with the short field, and they were forced to punt the ball back to the Falcons, with 24 seconds on the clock. In desperation, the Falcons drove the ball from their 15 yard line to the 45, but on the final play of the game, Chairs and Chandler Segovia (R-Fr. Tipton, Okla.) sacked the Falcon QB for a 5 yard loss.
Bulldog head coach Jeremiah Fiscus commented on the Homecoming win saying, "It's always great to get a team win on Homecoming. The defense did a phenomenal job all night, and kept them off the board late." He added, "The kids played really hard, really well together, for each other and really showed a lot of character in a lot of different ways."
Now at 3-1 on the season, the Bulldogs are slated to travel to Winfield, Kansas next Saturday for a 1:00 pm match up with the Southwestern College Moundbuilders.
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