Cincinnati, Ohio—Following a heartbreaking road loss last week the Lions looked forward to rebounding at home. This week the Lions played host to the Ravens of Anderson University. With all being told the Lions were able to win in convincing fashion, defeating the Ravens by a final score of 35-18.
The Ravens won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, allowing the Lions to receive the opening kickoff of the game. With the ball on the opening drive, the Lion's offense put together a five-play drive, in which Running-back Mariano McKenzie ran for 23 yards on 4 touches and capped off when Quarterback Jake Ayler found Wide-out Chandler Kinhalt on a 33-yard touchdown strike. This score gave the Lions an early 7-0 lead. On the ensuing Anderson drive the Lions were able to force the first of many turnovers, when Decklan Brophy came up with a strip-sack, to grant the Lion's offense great field position. After the Lion's offense being stopped short of a score, the defense once again stood strong, seeing Brophy continue to wreak havoc on the Anderson backfield.
On the opening drive of the second quarter, the Lion's offense once again assembled a scoring drive, when Ayler located Hayden Bell on a 16-yard touchdown pass, the first touchdown reception of Bell's career. Following another stop by the Lion's defense, the offense once again found their way to the end-zone on a 6 play 55-yard drive. This score drive saw Ayler located Kinhalt for passes of 18 yards and later in the drive a 14-yard touchdown. In the following Anderson drive, the Ravens Quarterback, Harley located a wide receiver for a touchdown. This saw the Lions go into the half-time break leading 21-6.
Opening the half, both the Ravens and Lions defenses made early stops. On the second Ravens drive of the half, the Lions defense was able to get a third-down stop to force a punt from deep in Ravens territory, this punt was blocked by Austin Price at the Mount's own nine-yard line. Following a penalty, on the Ravens the Lions eventually started this drive at their own four-yard line. This saw the offense only need a single play to score, as McKenzie rumbled around the edge for a quick score, that extended the Lion's lead to 28-6. On the following drive, the offense of Anderson looked to begin assembling a scoring drive of their own, only to be denied by Brophy once again, sacking Harley for a seven-yard loss on second down. The following Lions drive would serve as their final scoring drive of the afternoon. This drive spanned 61 yards, being capped off by a beautiful deep ball from Ayler to Cam York, for a 19-yard touchdown. This gave the Lions a 35-6 lead. In the final quarter of the game, the Anderson offense found the end-zone twice more to bring the final score to 35-18.
The offense of the Lions appeared to get into a rhythm this afternoon, over five players accounted for over 25 yards rushing, to bring the rushing total for the team to 238 yards. The leading rushing for the Lions was McKenzie who rushed for 67 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, Ayler earned player of the game for the Lions, who in his first career start as a Quarterback earned a win, throwing for 166 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 58 yards on the ground. Ayler was able to Kinhalt for four catches totaling 79 yards and two touchdowns. Aiding the Lion's offense in their scoring was Kicker, Kyle Farfsing who knocked down all five of his PAT attempts on the afternoon.
As usual, the Lion's defense was great today, seeing standout performances from several players. Starting off the list is Sophomore Defensive-End Decklan Brophy who lead the team in tackles with six, tackles for loss with two, and sacks with two, more impressively both sacks were strip sacks, while totaling 4 Quarterback hits. Additionally, the group of Brady Buller, Noah Hammond, and Collin Colyer each registered a sack for the Lions.
Following this win, the Lions move on the most important two-week stretch of their 2021 season. Next week the Lions will most their final home game of the season when Hanover College visits Schueler Field. This game will take play on Saturday, November 6, with kickoff at 1:30PM. For a preview of this upcoming game and all other Mount, athletics continue to follow msjlions.com
