CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph football team opened the seasion on Saturday night in a game that eventually finished early Sunday morning. Behind a dominant defensive effort that shutout the Muskies the Lions got a 34-0 win to open the season 1-0. 

The Muskie's got the ball to start the game after a quick three-and-out they punted the ball and Eli Aston returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. Muskingum blocked the PAT and nearly returned it for a 2-point conversion, a tackle from kicker Liam Cox and Kyle Toon stopped the attempt. 

Just two plays into the next drive the game entered a lightening delay with 12:03 left in the first quarter. They game would not resume for nearly three hours. 

On the first drive after the delay Muskingum moved the ball deep into Lions territory, but the drive was shut down after the first career interception by Pryce Davis in the endzone, who returned it 67 yards. 

They would go ahead 13-0 on a Jaxon Schreiber to Aston two yard touchdown pass. The Lions would score again early in the second quarter as Dallas De La Cruz scored on a 7-yard touchdown run pushing the Lions ahead 20-0 and that score would stand until the halftime break. 

Neither team scored in the third quarter but the Lions added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the win. 

Defensively the Lions held Muskingum to just 79 yards rushing on 37 attempts, and only 144 passing yards. 

Luke Paff led the way with 10 tackles (4 solo), and a half TFL while Luke Fortkamp and Logan Julian added seven tackles each.

UP NEXT: The Lions will hit the road next weekend heading to Illinois to take on Aurora that game is scheduled for a 1:00 PM kick.