TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - For the third season in a row that Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference's football championship came down to the final week, with the Mount St. Joseph Lions taking on the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers in the defacto title game. After the teams had each taken the title on their home field the last two seasons, the Lions headed to Terre Haute, Indiana looking to secure the title on the road. They did so in dominant fashion, crushing the Fightin' Engineers 68-20 behind an outstanding rushing attack and a stingy defense. 

The two squads came into Saturday's matchup as far and away the best offenses in the HCAC, with the Lions ranking among the best in the entire nation. The Lions offense put on one of their finest efforts of the season, securing 38 first downs and 693 yards of total offense. The rushing attack led the way as they ran the ball 51 times for 362 yards (7.1 per carry) and three touchdowns. Mariano McKenzie playing in what could have been his final game in a Lions uniform had the best game of his career, carrying the ball 22 times for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

Quarterback Josh Taylor threw six touchdown passes in the game, the second of which was his 41st of the season making him the single-season record holder for touchdown passes in a season. 

Rose-Hulman opened the game with the ball, but the Lions defense quickly forced a three-and-out. The Mount then moved down the field quickly, the drived appeared to stall out as the faced a fourth and 3 from the 15-yard line. Coach Hopperton rolled the dice and left his offense on the field, Taylor then rolled right and found Cornell Beachem Jr. who broke a pair of tackles on his way to the endzone. Rose then answered the Lions score with a 19-yard touchdown pass of their own on the very next drive. 

The teams both would score again on their next drives, the Lions on a 3-yard run from Taylor and Rose on an 81-yard touchdown pass, at this point the game looked like it was headed for a shootout. The Lions went ahead 21-13 as Taylor found Beachem again this time from 18-yards out, and from their the rout was on. The Lions defense began to stack up stop after stop and the offense never stopped scoring. The carried a 34-13 lead into the halftime break, after which they received the kickoff and quickly moved down the field to score again. 

Taylor threw touchdowns to six different receivers in the game, Beachem (2), Joey Newton, Austin Brock, Zane Dine and Gary Powell III. Jackson Gifford carried the ball 10 times for 70 yards andTaylor added 50 on the ground and a touchdown.

Defensively it was Anthony Wright leading the way with 8 tackles (4 solo), Brady Pierce, Evan Schlensker and Chandler Reatherford all had five stops. Andrew Pierce had the Lions lone interception in the game and Decklan Brophy had the only sack. 

UP NEXT: The Lions will wait for the selection show tomorrow at 5:00 pm at NCAA.COM to find out who they will face and where their next game will be. The game will take place next Saturday!