BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University football team gave HCAC-leading Mount St. Joseph all it wanted in a 49-27 loss to the Lions on a beautiful Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. The Beavers slipped to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Heartland Conference, while MSJ stayed perfect at 6-0 in the conference with an 8-1 mark on the season.
Senior Marvus McWright (Westland, MI/Lee M Thurston/Davenport) picked off MSJ standout Josh Taylor on the Lions' first play from scrimmage and on fourth and goal from the one, Xavier Reyero (Corona, Cal.) snuck it in for a 6-0 lead over the visitors just over three minutes into the game!
Two Mount St. Joseph touchdowns in a span of only 12 seconds sandwiched around a fumbled kickoff made it 14-6 MSJ with 5:37 to play in the opening quarter. Two Taylor scoring strikes in the second frame pushed the lead to 28-6 before a Reyero to Ethan Beringer (Findlay/Carey) hookup had the Beavers within striking distance (28-13) at the half.
The visitors used an 11-play, 66-yard drive to go up 35-13 with 10 minutes to play in period three. Taylor's 5th passing touchdown of the day gave the Lions a comfortable 42-13 spread heading to the final stanza, but Reyero hit CJ Thompson (Indianapolis, Ind./Park Tudor) in front of the MSJ bench and he did the rest, going 79 yards up the sideline and making it 42-19 less than a minute into the fourth quarter!
With eight minutes to play, Niegel Payne (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass and then a two-point conversion to Kale Lee (Spencerville) cut the deficit to 15 points (42-27). However, Taylor iced it with TD pass number six, this time to Kadin Pollard, making the final score 49-27.
Reyero had an outstanding Senior Day, completing 18-of-34 for 326 yards and four total touchdowns! Thompson and Payne both went over the century mark with 121 and 109 yards receiving, respectively. Beringer added 56 yards on five catches. He needs just five yards next week to make it three Beavers over 500 yards receiving this season. Payne leads the way with 657, while Thompson has racked up 553 yards through the air! Salieu Koroma (Westerville, Ohio/Central) led the ground game with 37 yards.
Kenan Ivery (Akron/Ellet) and Devin Hogan (Warren, Mich./Fitzgerald) led the defense with seven and six stops, respectively.
The Bluffton passing game finished with 42 more yards than the Lions (326-284), but MSJ churned out 487 yards of total offense, compared to 373 for the home team. The Lions moved the chains 15 more times (31-16) thanks to going 8-of-16 on third down. Both teams turned ot over two times and MSJ finished with a slight edge in time of possession (31:52-28:08).
Bluffton will suit up one more time when the Beavers head to long-time rival Defiance for their final Heartland Conference matchup with the Yellow Jackets who move to the NAIA next year. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Coressel Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 11.
-BEAVERS-
