CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph football team got their 2024 season underway with a home opener vs. Muskingum on Saturday. The Lions dropped the game 42-35.
Muskingum got the scoring started on their opening drive, scoring on a 29-yard pass. The Lions answered back on their first drive of the game as
Devin Holt scored from 10-yards out on a wildcard quarterback run.
The Muskies then scored again on their next drive to pull back ahead. On the Lions ensuing drive the committed their first of four turnovers in the game. Muskingum would make the Lions pay for the turnover, scoring again to pull ahead 21-7.
On their next drive the Lions would answer, with a 6-play, 77 yard drive. The big strike came from
Tyler Prather who found
Ari Turner for a 45-yard gain.
Jackson Gifford then capped the drive off with a 1-yard touchdown run. Once again Muskingum would score another touchdown on their next drive to push the lead back out to 14.
The Lions then continued to try to claw back into the game on their next possession, once again scoring a touchdown. This time it was Prather finding
Eli Aston in the right corner of the endzone for the score, pulling them back within seven.
The Lions defense got a stop on the next Muskingum possession forcing the first punt of the game. So the Mount took the ball back with 1:41 to go in the half and 80-yards to go. Prather led the Lions on a 9-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. He would find
Kadin Pollard in the endzone for a 15-yard score to cap off the drive. The Lions failed to convert the extra point, heading into the halftime break trailing 28-27.
After combining for 55 point in the first half, both defenses made good adjustments in the third quarter. Neither team was able to score through the first 15-minutes of the second half. Early in the fourth Muskingum found the endzone again to push ahead by eight.
The Mount would answer immediately with a touchdown drive of their own, as Holt rushed in for his second score of the game. They would convert the two-point converstion to tie the game at 35 with 9:10 to play.
The lead would not last long as Muskingum scored again on the next drive to go ahead again. The Mount would turn the ball over on their next drive giving it right back to Muskingum. The defense would get another big stop to get the offense the ball back with 1:53 to play.
Prather started the drive with back-to-back first-down completions to Pollard and
Zane Dine. Prather then found Aston over the middle and he was hit immediately, fumbling the ball back to Muskingum. The Muskies would then run out the clock to secure the win.
STANDOUTS:
Eli Aston was fantastic in his Lions debut, catching 9-balls for 197 yards and a touchdown.
Ari Turner caught 5 for 111 yards, Pollard added 4 for 54 and a score.
Defensively
Evan Schlensker led the way with 10 total tackles (2 solo),
Jack Tucker added 9 (2 solo) with a sack and 2.5 TFLs.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will hit the road on Friday, heading to take on Hiram. The game is scheduled for a 7 PM kickoff under the lights on Friday night.
