Photo by Jakob Komel
Wichita, Kan. – The McPherson College football team bounced back from their loss last week at home to Southwestern by going on the road this Saturday and defeating the Friends University Falcons 24-17.
The Falcons, who came into the game still looking for their first win of the season, led the Bulldogs 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to the Bulldogs. They got on the board on a 25 yard field goal by Caden Bush and then added a touchdown, a two yard TD pass from Tristan Szabo to Melvin Reid. The Bulldogs went into halftime leading the Falcons 10-7.
The Falcons opened the second half by tying the game with a 41 yard field goal. Late in the third quarter, the Bulldogs retook the lead when Szabo found Joe Smyth in the flat on a swing pass. Smyth went 76 yards down the sideline to paydirt to put the Bulldogs up 17-10
They added an insurance touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a one yard run by Braylon Moody, to go up by two scores, 24-10. The Falcons made things interesting down the stretch. They scored on a 23 yard touchdown pass to cut the Bulldog lead to seven with just over a minute and a half left in the game. The Bulldogs went three and out on their next drive, and gave the ball back to the Falcons with under a minute to play. The Bulldog defense came up big, sacking the quarter back on the final play of the game to stop the Falcon threat.
The Bulldogs finished the game with 214 yards of total offense, 53 coming from the ground game, and 161 through the air. Szabo completed 15 of 25 passes to five different receivers and had two touchdown tosses. His top receiver was Smyth who finished with three receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown. Smyth, along with Szabo let the Bulldogs in rushing. Both finished with seven carries for 18 yards.
On defense, the Bulldogs allowed the Falcons 237 yards. They racked up 129 yards rushing, and 108 passing. Cory Chairs was credited with 9 tackles to lead the Bulldog defense. Taeylon Garland was right next in line with eight.
"Anytime you can get a win, you got to be happy with it," said Bulldog head coach Jeremiah Fiscus. "I'm proud of the kids' effort. Defensively we were good, on special teams we were good, we just didn't execute very well on offense. This week's challenge, is to put a complete game together, offense, defense, and special teams. Proud of the effort, proud of the win, those things aren't easy to come by so you got to be happy. I'm proud of the team for fighting hard and getting the win."
The win puts the Bulldogs at 3-2 on the season. They will be back in action next Saturday, going on the road for a 2:00 pm match up at Kansas Wesleyan University.
