By: Andrew Weeks
Box Score Angola, Indiana—The Lions traveled to Trine for the first road game of the 2021 season. This was one of the tightest contested games in recent Mount St. Joseph Football history, going to overtime, that saw the Lions fall short 30-31.
The game opened up with the Lions defense on the field, making a quick stop. This stop was caused by the Lions defense forcing a fumble that would be recovered by Noah Hammond at the Trine 48. With great field position, the offense came onto the field and made quick work of the Thunder defense, scoring on a four play drive, capped off by a 35 yard pass Josh Taylor passing touchdown, caught by Austin Brock. On the ensuing Thunder drive the Lions were able to hold Trine to a field goal, seeing the first end with a 7-3 Lions lead.
With the Mount offense on the field at the start of the second quarter, they put together a 13 play 90 yard drive the ended in a very impressive 11 yard touchdown catch by Mariano Mckenzie. This score gave the Lions a 14-3 lead. On the following Trine possession they were able to piece together a scoring drive of their own, seeing the Lions lead cut to 14-10. After both defenses making several stops, the Lions defense came up with a huge turnover, as Devon Donawerth intercepted a Trine pass. This sparked the offense to yet another long scoring drive, lasting 10 plays, spanning 52 yards led by Taylor who finished the drive with a two yard passing touchdown to Joey Newton. After this score the Lions were able to enter the half with a 21-10 lead.
Once again the Lions offense was on the field to begin the third quarter, but were unable to move the ball. This lead to Trine scoring 14 points unanswered in the second half to take a 24-21 lead. With 10:50 remaining in the ball game the Lions offense was able to put together a drive that was able to move the ball 48 yards over 6 minutes. This long drive was capped off by a 28 yard field goal by Kyle Farfsing tying the game at 24-24. In the following Trine drive the defense made a huge stop, forcing a three and out, to give the offense a chance to win the ball game with 1:47 left in the fourth. However the offense would get stopped with 11 seconds in the game, leading to the final punt of the game. Regulation ended in a 24-24 tie.
Overtime saw the Lions defense take the field first, after a series of penalties against the defense Trine found the end zone, taking a 31-24 lead. As for the offense, they quickly responded with a touchdown of their own, with another Taylor pass to Brock. The Lions offense remained on the field, to go for two and the win. This attempt was stopped short, causing the Lions to drop the game 31-30.
This was a very competitive game all around. Once again Taylor put up a great game, throwing for 225 yards and 4 touchdowns while adding 107 yards rushing. Brock added to his already impressive season with 7 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The defense for the Lions saw several great performances. Linebacker Julius Fisher led the team in tackles with 8, including a half sack. Additionally the pair of Donawerth and Deshawn Starks, each had an interception.
The Mount St. Joseph University Football program, now looks forward to traveling to Bluffton University to start their conference play, following their bye-week. This game will be at the campus of Bluffton University on Saturday, October 2, with kickoff set for 1:30PM. For continued coverage of the Lions season and all other MSJ sports continue to follow msjlions.com
