Cincinnati Ohio—In the final home game of the 2021 season for the Mount St. Joseph University Football program, and the game that held to most importance to the Lions this season. In this game, the Lions played host to the Hanover College Panthers, who were tied for second in the Heartland Conference standings. With all being told the Lions walked away with a giant victory, winning 23-6.
This game also served as Senior Day for the Mount, the ceremonies took place before the opening kickoff of the game. The program said their goodbyes to the following players: Noah Able, Logan Crist, Chase Samples, Jonathan Finn, Julius Fischer, Colin Colyer, Hayden McMullen, Bo Kuenning, Sam Martin, Jarvis Langham, Matt Pfeifer, Andrew Weeks, Colin Mangan, Alex McQueen, Noah Hammonds and Gavin Brennan.
The Lions won the coin toss to start the game and elected to defer to the second half. The Panther's opening drive lasted only two plays before defensive-end Decklan Brophy intercepted a Hanover pass. With the Lion's offense taking the field for their first drive of the game, with great field position, the Panther's defense made a quick stop. These two stops, by both defense, set the pace for a strong defensive performance, seeing the first end knotted up 0-0.
In the second quarter of the game saw momentum change in the Lion's favor. In the first drive of the quarter, the Lions put up the first score of the game, thanks to Kyle Farfsing knocking down a 21-yard field goal. Following several stops from both defenses, the Lion's offense got the ball with 4:15 left in the half. After a long drive, with several setbacks, Shavonte McGriff, ripped off a huge 36-yard run to set up a Josh Taylor rushing touchdown from 3 yards out. With this score right before the break, the Lions held a 10-0 lead.
The second half saw both defenses make quick stops, to start the half, keeping the score tied at 10. On the second drive for the Lion's offense, they were able to add to their lead, when Farfsing sunk another field goal, this time from 27 yards. On the ensuing Hanover drive, their offense finally found the end-zone on a 70-yard touchdown pass to cut the Lion's lead to 13-6. However, the Lions responded once again, off the foot of Farfsing who was good from 23 yards this time, widening the lead to 16-6.
With a two-possession lead and the ball, the Lion's offense was ready to put away any hopes of a Hanover comeback to rest. They did so on an 8 play scoring drive, that saw Austin Brock get wide-open, hauling in a 42-yard touchdown, to extend the Lion's lead to 23-6. On the next Hanover drive, the Panthers moved the ball downfield quickly, almost reaching the red-zone before Able intercepted a pass deep in the end-zone. With this play, all that was left to do was run out the clock, which the Lions successfully did with a 10 play drive, securing the 23-6 win.
As usual, the defense was impressive, holding the top running offense in the HCAC to 60 ground yards, while surrendering only 140 yards in the air. This performance saw several Lions post great performances. Finn, led the team in total tackles with 8, while Fischer finished with 7. Hammonds also added 7 tackles and a tackle for a loss.
The offense continued to dominate in their rushing attack, totaling 351 yards on the ground, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. This performance saw the combination of Josh Taylor and Mariano McKenzie register over 100 yards each. Taylor, led the team in rushing with 131 yards, while McKenzie finished with 116 yards. In the passing game, Austin Brock registered 2 catches for 84 yards and a touchdown catch.
Following this game, the Lions look forward to the closest version of a conference championship game, that you can get in Division III football. This will see the Lions prepare for their final road game of the season to travel to the leader in the HCAC standings, Rose-Hulman. This game is scheduled for Saturday, November 13 with kickoff at 1:30 PM. For continued coverage of this upcoming game and all other Mount Athletics continue to follow msjlions.com
