N. MANCHESTER, Indiana – The Mount St. Joseph University football team went on the road to open Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play at Manchester. The Lions came into the game 3-0 and put that unbeaten record on the line against the Spartans. The Lions came out on top on Saturday 55-20 to open HCAC play 1-0.
As has been the case much of this season
Josh Taylor and
Cornell Beachem Jr. led the way offensively for the Lions. Cornell carried the ball 13 times for 144 yards and 4 touchdowns, all four touchdowns came in the first half. Taylor was 15-of-18 passing for 233 yards and a pair of scores. In the second half Taylor made way for
Tyler Prather who was 8-of-12 for 87 yards and a pair of scores.
Ty Humphrey also saw some time at QB for the Lions going 5-of-6 for 53 yards.
Other rushing leaders include Taylor who gained 43 yards on 7 carries,
Mariano McKenzie who carried the ball four times for 36 yards and
Ari Turner who had 6 carries for 38 yards.
The Lions quarterbacks were able to complete passes to 13 different receivers in the game, led by
Austin Brock who had 5 catches for 56 yards and a score. Beachem caught 3 balls for 75 yards, and
Joey Newton added 3 for 48 yards and a score.
Kadin Pollard added 3 catches for 21 yards and his first career touchdown catch,
Cooper Jones also hauled in a touchdown pass.
The unsung heroes are always the offensive line but today they were fantastic. The group of
Sam Martin,
Danny Mabe,
Devin Salyers,
Collin Kandra and
Aiden Stuteville paved the way for an offense that gained 644 total yards. The Lions ran for 284 yards and averaged 7.7 yards per carry, they also gave the quarterbacks time to go 28-of-37 passing for 373 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Defensively the Lions continued to be opportunistic forcing a pair of Manchester turnovers.
DeShawn Starks and
Austin Price each hauled in an interception for the Lions. Freshman linebacker
Jacob Ferguson led the way with a career-high 7-total tackles and a quarterback hurry.
Jack Tucker had six tackles and a quarterback hurry from his defensive tackle position.
Anthony Wright added 5 tackles, 1 TFL, and a pass breakup.
All told the defense held Manchester to 100 yards on the ground and 3.1 yards per carry. They would hold the Spartans under 300 total yards for the game and held them to just 6-of-14 on third down conversion attempts.
Kyle Farfsing was fantastic kicking for the Lions going 7-of-8 on PATs and hitting 9 kickoffs for 499 yards and 4 touchbacks.
UP NEXT:
The Mount (4-0, 1-0 HCAC) will welcome the Yellow Jackets of Defiance College (0-4, 0-1 HCAC) to Cincinnati and Schueler Field for HCAC conference action on next Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 PM.
