Yellow Jacket Football Suffers Heartbreaking Loss Against MSJ

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The College of Mount St. Joseph scored 11 points late in the fourth quarter to hand the Defiance College Yellow Jackets a heartbreaking 24-21 loss in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener at Justin F. Coressel Stadium.

MSJ (2-1, 1-0 HCAC) scored the only points of the first quarter with a 17-yard field goal on its second possession of the game that ended a six-play, 81-yard drive.  Defiance (0-3, 0-1 HCAC) put together a promising drive late in the period starting at its own 23-yard line and marching to the MSJ 22-yard line, but the drive ended on a fumble that was recovered by the Lions, keeping the score at 3-0 after the first 15 minutes of play.

Following the Yellow Jacket turnover to end the first, MSJ took advantage going 74 yards in nine plays and scoring on a one-yard run to extend the margin to 10-0 with 13:09 left in the half.  DC got on the board with just over five minutes remaining before the break with a 12-play, 45-yard drive that was sustained by two critical penalties by the MSJ defense that resulted in DC first downs.  This time, the Yellow Jackets took advantage of the opponent's mistakes and turned the penalties into a one-yard TD run by senior running back Trevon Burrell (Auburn Hills, Mich./Avondale), his first of two rushing TDs on the day, cutting the deficit to 10-7 at the 5:23 minute mark.  Neither team would get into soring position the rest of the way, as the Lions maintained a three-point edge, 10-7, at the break.

MSJ opened the third quarter in similar fashion as the first with another field goal, this time from 45-yards out.  The successful try extended the margin to 13-7 with 12:54 left in the quarter.  The Jackets would be forced to punt on their ensuing drive, but a fumble by the MSJ return man was recovered by Defiance's Keandre Gilmer (Toledo/Rogers) and gave DC the ball back at the Lion 18-yard ine.  DC capitalized on the turnover as sophomore Daniel Collins (West Springfield, Va./West Springfield) scored on an 18-yard run giving DC a 14-13 lead with 11:10 to go.  Late in the period, DC put together another scoring drive when Burrell found the endzone for the second time in the game from two yards out at the 1:26 mark that gave the Jackets a 21-13 advantage.  The Burrell TD would be the final points of the quarter as DC took an eight-point lead into the final quarter.

In a drive that began in the third stanza, the Lions would get to the Defiance 17-yard line, but the drive ended on an interception by Defiance junior safety Andrew Feldhaus (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner) in the endzone.  The very next MSJ possession, the Lions again got into scoring position, this time driving all the way to the Defiance three-yard line, but the Jacket defense came up big again, denying MSJ any points on four unsuccessful plays from inside the 10-yard line.  The Defiance lead remained eight points until the 2:11 mark when MSJ finally got to the Yellow Jacket defense scoring on a 21-yard pass completion that ended an 11-play drive.  The Lions went for the two-point conversion on a toss sweep that found the corner of the endzone to even the score at 21-21.  With two minutes left in the game, the DC offense looked for a possible score or at the worst, force overtime, but the MSJ defense forced an interception that gave the Lions the ball at the Jacket 29 yard-line.  Four plays later, MSJ found itself inside the 10-yard line again and set up a game-winning field goal attempt with two seconds remaining.  Lion kicker Shane Kelly connected on his third field goal of the game, but none bigger than this one, as the 24-yard attempt sailed through the uprights as time expired, giving the Lions the 24-21 come-from-behind victory.

MSJ had 396 yards of total offense (127 rushing and 269 passing) with quarterback Greg Simpson ccmpleting 20-of-40 passes for 208 yards and one TD.  Denzel Norvell led all rushers with a game-high 105 yards on 19 carries and a score.  Leonard Riston caught a game-high eight passes for 88 yards to go along with one TD.  Fellow wideout John Peters had six catches for a game-high 92 yards.  Defensively, the duo of Anthony Berry and Jonathan Campbell led the way with 10 tackles each.  Berry also had a tackle for loss and a forced fumble.  Campbell added three tackles for loss, including a sack, and also forced a fumble.

Defiance ended the game with 310 yards of offense (172 rushing and 138 passing) and was led by senior quarterback Garrett Teague (Webberville, Mich./Webberville) who completed 14-of-34 passes for 138 yards.  He was also the team's leading rusher with 59 yards on 15 carries.  Burrell ended the day with 53 yards on 18 carries to go along with the two scores.  Collins led the team in receptions with five for 44 yards.  He also rushed for 40 yards on seven touches and had one TD.  Sophomore Darius Harper (Jacksonville, Fla./Robert E. Lee) led the team in reception yardage with 48 on four catches.  On defense, three players recorded 10 or more tackles for the second straight week.  Senior safety Josh Slayton (Fort Wayne, Ind./North Side) finished with a game-high 12 tackles (nine solo and three assists) to go along with two tackles for loss which were both sacks.  Feldhaus and sophomore Kenny Jones (Toledo/Bowsher) both tallied 11 stops.  Feldhaus also added 2.5 tackles for loss in addition to the interception.

The Jackets will travel to Hanover, Ind. next week for a HCAC matchup against Hanover College on Saturday, Sept. 27.  Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m.