Falcons Swat Fighting Bees
By: Ryan Holtmann - St. Ambrose University Sports Information

September 28, 2002       6:12 p.m.  

It was not a sweet homecoming for the No. 5 St. Ambrose University Fighting Bees (2-1) as they fell to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls Falcons (1-2) 24-13 on Saturday.  The Falcons amassed 289 yards of offense, 275 of those yards came from their running game.  The Falcons controlled the possession game as they held the ball for almost 39 minutes of the game.  They ran a flexbone offensive formation (similar to the wishbone) and it proved to keep the Fighting Bees defense guessing.  The Fighting Bees defense allowed its first touchdown of the year, when John Peterlik (UWRF) ran three yards for the score, with . 

St. Ambrose quarterback John McDowell went out of the game in the third quarter after being hit hard.  The hit came after a McDowell threw an interception while deep in Fighting Bees territory.  Abe Garcia intercepted the pass at the Fighting Bees 35-yard line. When McDowell went to chase Garcia he was blindsided by a Falcon defensive player.  He would not return to the game.  He would finish the day with 160 yards passing, completing 13 of 23 passes, throwing for one touchdown, three interceptions and fumbling the snap once.  The fumble, at the Fighting Bees own one yard line, allowed the Falcons to take a 23-14 lead on a one-yard rush by Dan Beyer.  This would be the dagger in the Fighting Bees heart.

Brandon Adolphs and Joe Schimmel combined for only 47 yards on the ground and 55 yards on receptions.  Adolphs scored a touchdown with 6:56 left in the first half and the Fighting Bees trailing 17-0.  He muscled his way through the Falcons defensive line for the two-yard touchdown run.  Matt Walker grabbed McDowell’s only touchdown pass late in the first half to bring the Fighting Bees with in three points with the score 17-14.  Walker finished the day with two catches for 63 yards.

Five Fighting Bee defensemen had ten tackles or more.  Lavill Figgs led the way with 15 total tackles (six unassisted), followed closely by Mike Aussieker who had 13 tackles.  Aussieker also had one tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery.  Also in double digits were T.J. Sheedy (12 tackles, one interception), Adam Panther (10) and Brandon Graves (10).

The Fighting Bees special teams unit faltered in more ways than one.  Matt Walker fumbled what would have been his first punt return at the UW-River Falls 36-yard line.  Mark Whitlock again missed his only PAT attempt.  And punter Josh Embretson had an unusually off day as he had six punts for only 165 yards, one of his punts only went eight yards.  That averaged out to 27.5 yards, dropping his season average to 35.5 yards per punt.

The Fighting Bees will travel to Olivet Nazarene (0-3) on Saturday, October 5 and then travel to St. Francis (IL) on October 12 before returning home to Brady St. Stadium on October 19 to face off against Trinity International.  That game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., gates open at 11:30 a.m.        

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