By Ben Risinger, SID
October 11, 2003

BLUFFTON, OHIO - In a Homecoming weekend matchup the Bluffton College Beavers (2-3, 0-1 HCAC) found themselves tied 28-28 with only 8:34 left in the game. Two scrappy touchdowns by Anderson University (4-2, 2-0 HCAC) handed the Beavers their first conference loss of the year.

The Beaver defense kept the Ravens out of the end zone until 8:51 left in the half when Anderson QB Joel Steele (National player of the week) threw a 15 yard pass to Brady Church to put the score at 7-0. Anderson would score one more time to widen the lead to 14-0 until late in the second when Bluffton posted their first score of the day. With only 28 seconds left in the first half, Jared Owens (VanWert/Crestview) kept the ball on a 2-yard run. Matt Cooper's (Bucyrus/Wynford) kick would be good to put the score at 14-7 going into the locker rooms. Cooper would make all four PAT's for the Beavers in the game.

Anderson would score with 11:52 left in the third to widen the lead to 20-7 after AU's kicker found his PAT blocked. Bluffton then turned on their overdrives, scoring on two more possessions and taking the lead 21-20 with only 11:59 left in the contest. Less than two minutes later, Anderson running back Denny Kimmel found a 16-yard pass from Steele to take the lead back 28-21. At the 8:34 mark, Ben Dodds (West Liberty/Bellefontaine) found a whole for the 48-yard run to tie the game for the second time at 28 all. The Ravens would then score twice more in the last six minutes to give the final tally of 42-28.

Bluffton led statistically on the day in total yards with 437 compared to Anderson's 426. The Beavers held the ball for 41:20 minutes versus Anderson's 18:40 on the game. The difference that mattered was in passing where the Ravens led with 386 yards, compared to the Beaver's 181. 

Owens posted 169 yards in air (10 for 20), but felt the sting of the Ravens defense, being sacked four times in the game. Dodds led the ground attack again for the third straight week posting 188 yards on 40 carries. Owens posted 69 yards rushing off 22 attempts in the game. Dodds led the receivers with 69 yards off of five catches. Mark Gable (Alvordton/Hilltop) had three receptions for 40 yards. Senior Chris Sommers (Delphos/Jefferson) led the defensive attack with 11 tackles (9 solo, 2 assisted).

Bluffton will continue their Heartland conference schedule next week when they travel to Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.