MSJ Football to Open HCAC Play on the Road at Manchester

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Who: Manchester University (1-2, 0-0 HCAC)
Where: N. Manchester, Indiana (Spartan Stadium)
When: Saturday, October 1^st | 1:30 PM
How we got here:
The Mount St. Joseph University Lions football team is entering week five 3-0 and coming off a much-needed bye week. The Lions got to 3-0 on the year, with a week three win over the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College in the HCAC-MIAA crossover event. The Lions victory was the lone win by an HCAC school over the strong MIAA conference.

The Lions continued their outstanding play on the offensive side of the ball in the win over Hope. They finished the game with 491 yards of total offense, bringing their season average to just over 426 yards per game. Defensively they were outstanding, especially in the second half vs. Hope. During the games final two quarters they registered an interception and an outstanding five sacks. All told they would secure the 33-28 win over the favored Flying Dutchmen and would go on to sweep week three of the HCAC Player of the Week honors. Josh Taylor was name offensive POTW, Decklan Brophy was name defensive POTW and Ryan Murray who's 71 yard punt late in the second half was instrumental in the win was named special teams POTW.

The Spartans of Manchester University come into this matchup as the lone other HCAC school with anything in the win column this season.  Winning their week one matchup on the road at North Park. Since then though the Spartans have dropped two in a row both on the road at Alma and Greenville respectively. In a 49-22, week three loss at Greenville, the Spartans produced 319 yards of offense with 207 of that coming from the running attack. Defensively they were opportunistic forcing a pair of turnovers, but Greenville was just a little to much for the Spartans.

When the Lions have the ball:

The star duo for the Lions continues to be Cornell Beachem Jr. and Josh Taylor. Taylor is coming into the matchup after winning back-to-back HCAC offensive player of the week. Throughout the season, Taylor is averaging 307 passing yards, 25 rushing yards, and has produced 12 total touchdowns. Beachem has done a little bit of everything for the Lions this season. He brings in an average of 219 all-purpose yards per game; 109 rushing yards per game, 77 receiving yards per game, with 33 return yards on average and 3 total touchdowns. The receiving room for the Lions also has shown great depth as for the second game in a row 7 different Lions receivers have receptions.

Defensively the Spartans are led by Junior linebacker Jamaal Hubbard and Junior Haylee Smith. Hubbard has tallied a team-high 23 tackles on the season while also bringing in an interception in the Spartans first game of the season. Smith has been the Spartans best piece in the secondary this season. Smith has 11 total tackles and leads the team in interceptions with 2 through 3 games.  

When the Spartans have the ball:
On offense the Spartans plan of attack is through the ground game for the first three games of the season. Manchester is averaging 176 rushing yards per game and is led by Sophomore David Smith. Smith has carried the ball 48 times for 295 yards which is an average of 98 yards per game. They will turn the ball over to quarterback Eric James to captain their ship offensively.

On the defensive side of the ball for the Lions, Anthony Wright continues to be the Lions leader with 25 total tackles on the year. The defensive line is highlighted by senior Noah Hammond with 10 total tackles and 2 sacks. Decklan Brophy comes into this matchup looking to build on his last week player of the week numbers, Brophy finished with 6 total tackles and 2 sacks against the Flying Dutchmen of Hope college.  
 
UP NEXT:
On Saturday October 8^th, your Mount St. Joseph Lions will head back home to take on the Yellow Jackets of Defiance college for their week 6 matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 at Schueler Field.