By: Colton Steiner
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University Beavers hosted the Anderson University Ravens as part of Homecoming weekend on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, and the hosts walked away with a 37-9 victory over the Ravens. It was the first win of the season for Bluffton as the Beavers moved to 1-3 on the year, while Anderson fell to 1-4 overall.
Despite the opening kickoff pinning the Beavers at the 7-yard line, they would move down the field and score on a Kainan Stoner (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) 3-yard run to go up 7-0. Despite a successful goal-line stand for the Bluffton defense, the Anderson defense answered with a safety after forcing an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone to cut the home team's lead to 7-2. The teams would go back and forth with punts before a six-play, 43-yard drive was capped off with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Evan Unruh (Elida/Lima Central Catholic) to Jacquez Cullars (Atlanta, Ga./Druid Hills) on fourth down, extending the lead to 14-2 with 4:35 left in the first half.
After going into halftime with a 14-2 advantage, Unruh would connect with Cullars for the second time in the contest from 15 yards out to make it 21-2 in favor of Bluffton at the 2:23 mark of the third quarter. The Beaver defense wanted a piece of the action and got a safety of their own with 28 seconds left in the quarter. Going into the fourth period with a 23-2 lead, the Beavers kept the momentum on their side with back-to-back touchdown passes from Unruh to Ethan Beringer (Findlay/Carey) to go up 37-2. The Ravens were able to get a late score, but the Bluffton offense was too much to handle as the Beavers came out with the convincing 37-9 win.
Leading the charge for Bluffton was Unruh who completed 18-of-24 passes for 298 yards with four touchdowns. Koby Coffee (Antioch, Tenn./Antioch) had a dominant day on the ground, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and totaling 61 yards on just 11 carries. The wideouts for the Beavers were all over the field with Ethan Beringer hauling in five catches for 110 yards with two scores, while Jacquez Cullars added five catches as well, two of which went for touchdowns. Niegel Payne (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) caught four passes for 79 yards and is now only 24 yards away from 1,000 career receiving yards! Beringer jumped into 5th place all-time with 1,542 career receiving yards and his 104 receptions have him 7th currently. He moved two steps closer to Micah Roberson's 31 career receiving touchdowns as Beringer now has 24 of his own.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nolan Whobrey (Louisville, Ky./Meade County) was all over the field, collecting a team-high seven tackles in the contest. Both Jacob Arndt (Marion/Harding) and Tre Stribling (Nashville, Tenn./Independence) found their way in the backfield, each tallying a sack on the day. Not only was the defense able to wreck havoc in the pocket, but it was also able to create chaos in the secondary with Zach Rhynes (Toledo/Start) and Travion Curry (Thomson, Ga./Thomson) both snatching their first interceptions of the season.
Bluffton will look to build off this win next week when the Beavers travel to Manchester University for a 1:30 p.m. meeting with the Spartans on Saturday, Oct. 12.
-BEAVERS-
