Fighting Bees Win On Last Second Touchdown

By: Ryan Holtmann            St. Ambrose University Football Sports Information Director

November 16,2002    11:39 p.m.

On a day where the weather changed as much as the score of the game did, another Fighting Bees team would be crowned as the Mid-States Football Association Midwest conference champions. 

The host No. 15 St. Ambrose University Fighting Bees (6-1, 8-2) upset formerly unbeaten No. 3 McKendree College Bearcats (6-1, 9-1) by a final score of 26-20 on Senior Day.  This time the Fighting Bees will share that honor with St. Xavier and McKendree, who also finished with 6-1 conference records.

“This year we had to share it, but we’ll take it, three years in a row, what a great accomplishment,” head coach Todd Sturdy said.  

John McDowell fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Joe DuPage as time expired for the game winning score.  McDowell would finish the day with 277 yards on 14-24 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions.  He also rushed nine times for 28 yards including an 18-yard touchdown run.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet, Joe (DuPage) made an unbelievable catch and the offensive line gave me great time to throw the ball,” McDowell said, “I’ve got to give all of those guys all the credit.”

“Our kids knew what they had to do, they were fired up, it shows that they have a lot of fight in them,” Sturdy said.   

DuPage finished the day with 80 yards and two touchdowns.  Matt Walker led the receiving core in total yardage, bringing in three receptions for 101 yards.

The pass was set up after McKendree took over possession of the ball with 3:01 left in the game.  Tommie Bonner intercepted McDowell’s pass at his own 42-yardline, then returning it to the St. Ambrose 48-yardline. 

With the score tied at 20 a piece, it looked as if the Bearcats were in the drivers seat.  After four run plays by Bearcat running backs and the clock slowly winding down, McKendree faced a tough third and five from the St. Ambrose 30-yardline. 

Bearcats running back Lance Bidlack got the call.  Bidlack rushed to the right side only to be met by Fighting Bees defenders Lavill Figgs and T.J. Sheedy at the St. Ambrose 28-yardline, bringing up fourth down and three yards to go.

Sheedy lead the Fighting Bees defense with 12 tackles (six assisted) as well as tackle for a loss.  Figgs finished with nine assisted tackles.  Adam Panther and Chris Davies combined for 20 tackles (ten a piece) on the day. 

“We all know that we have to make plays, everyone does their jobs, and when everyone does their job everything comes together,” Figgs said.

Bidlack finished with 80 yards on 15 rushes.  Leading the Bearcats run game was Daryle Jones, who rushed 12 times for 119 yards and one touchdown.

After a timeout with 00:54 left on the game clock, McKendree head coach Carl Poelker sent out his freshman place kicker, Stephen Webb to try a 45-yard field goal.  The Fighting Bees took a timeout to try and ice Webb.  Webb’s kick was straight on, but would fall just short of the uprights giving the ball to the Fighting Bees with 47.9 seconds left of the clock.  Webb had made field goals of 31 and 23.

McDowell fired consecutive competitions to Andy Ford.  These would be Ford’s only two receptions on the day, but came at the prime time.  The passes went for 16 and 21 yards, respectively. 

McDowell then hurried the offense to line of scrimmage (the Bearcats 35-yardline) to spike the ball and stop the clock. 

He would then complete a seven yard pass to Joe Schimmel, who got out of bounds to stop the clock with eight seconds left, setting up one last play.

Schimmel finished with three receptions for 14 yards as well as three rushes for 33 yards.  He also returned a kickoff 31 yards.

A Twins Weak Ram Flame 87 Flat Swing.  That is the play that head coach Todd Sturdy sent into McDowell.  After evading a Bearcats linebacker, McDowell fired a pass to the left side of the field.  Wide receiver Joe DuPage leapt up and snagged the pass just outside the end zone. 

“There’s a reason that McKendree is the number one defense in the nation because they have a good defensive line and linebackers, they do well blitzing and we took that away from them today, that’s why we scored 26 points and that’s why we won the game,” McDowell said. 

He turned around and then made a lunge for the end zone.  He would be knocked out of bounds, only after he crossed the pylon, giving the Fighting Bees the victory and the share of the conference championship.

“That feels great, words just can’t describe how I feel right now,” DuPage said after the game.  “The defense gave us this opportunity and I want to thank (Andy) Ford, too for coming up with those big plays to get us down here to have this chance.”

“We really played like championship material and had a lot of passion going into a game like this so coming out on top is really going to give us a lot of momentum,” Ford said.

With the St. Ambrose crowd erupting in celebration, the St. Ambrose players and coaches stormed the field and DuPage in the end zone, creating a huge pile.  Coach Sturdy was one of the first to jump on the pile. 

After the celebration while Sturdy was giving his post game speech, he called out Jason Kratt’s name.  He then explained that (what he thought) Kratt must have thought that Sturdy’s face was that of a McKendree player. 

Kratt had his hand covering Sturdy’s face and Sturdy fearing for his life.  “I was beginning to fear for my life,” Sturdy said jokingly to Kratt and his players, which brought a good laugh amongst the bunch. 

McKendree kept the ball on the ground almost the entire day.  As a matter of fact, 52 of the Bearcats 54 plays were running plays.  The only two pass attempts were not completed.  The Bearcats were without starting quarterback Tyler Pankey as he was knocked out of last week’s game against Olivet Nazarene.  Replacing Pankey was Mike Vogt. 

The Fighting Bees were the first team to strike, but this was not until the second quarter.  A light snow began to fall on the Brady St. Stadium crowd with 12:08 on the clock and the Fighting Bees facing a third and 25.  McDowell dropped back and threw a perfect pass to Walker for 45 yards and a first down at the McKendree one-yard line.  Adolphs would take the one-yard plunge for the touchdown. 

After a quick three and out, the Bearcats punted the ball back to the Fighting Bees.  McDowell led the offense all the way down to the McKendree 39-yardline.  With the Fighting Bees facing a third and a short one, many expected to see Adolphs with the ball in his hands.  Instead, Sturdy elected to try a pass in hopes to catch the Bearcats defense off guard.

“We practiced that play all week,” Sturdy said,  “If there were no receivers there, throw the ball away and go.  We would have went into a quick huddle and gone for it.  We were in four down territory, so we had to go for it either way.”  

McDowell’s pass fell incomplete, but there was a flag on the play.  The call was holding on the Fighting Bees.  Now facing a third down and 11 yards to go, McDowell would drop back to pass again, only to be sacked by Mark Williams. 

The Fighting Bees, now on their own 39-yard line, were forced to punt.  After a low snap, the Bearcats David Rhodes broke through the line and blocked Josh Embretson’s attempted punt.  McKendree recovered the ball at the St. Ambrose 11-yard line.  On the next play Jason Yelton ran for the game-tying touchdown.  This would prove to be the last score of the half.

Despite the Bearcats controlling the ball for 13:35 of the third quarter, they would only manage three points.  That coming from the leg of Webb, who kicked a 31-yard field goal.  Giving McKendree their only lead of the game at 10-7

The Fighting Bees would not waste any time in regaining the lead.  McDowell completed passes of 34 and 31 to Ryan Antonik and DuPage.  The pass to DuPage went for the go ahead touchdown.

Shortly into the fourth quarter Webb struck again for the Bearcats, this time kicking a 23-yard field goal, bringing the Bearcats within one of the Fighting Bees at 14-13. 
With 6:42 left in the game, Schimmel took the ball at his own 42-yard line and rushed 33 yards to the McKendree 25. 

After two Adolphs rushes, the Fighting Bees faced a third and three.  McDowell took the option run on his own all the way to the end zone and a 20-13 Fighting Bees lead as Matt Webster missed the point after. 

“They were a tougher defense than what we have faced before and I just kept going, the offensive line did a great job, the made some holes for me to run through,” Adolphs said.

After trading possessions, the Bearcats got the ball back with 4:47 left, Jones rushed two times, 36 and 29 yards, respectively, with the second going for the game tying touchdown.  This set up the final plays of the game.

“I am just happy for the seniors, everybody came out and put all they had into it and I am just happy that the seniors got another conference championship,” DuPage said.

“This is what we needed.  We needed this, if we can get on a roll, we got a really good football team, we can match up with anybody,” Sturdy said. “I’m just so proud of these kids, my coaches and this whole organization, we got a good football team, we’ve done some good things.  We’ve got a great organization from top to bottom.”

The Fighting Bees are not guaranteed anything just yet, but there is a good probability that they will make it into the NAIA National Playoffs.  They will find out for sure on Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.  The playoff pairings will be posted on the Internet at http://www.naia.org or on the St. Ambrose football home page (http://web.sau.edu/athletics/athletics/football/index.htm) as soon as they are announced.

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