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SAU Does Their Part, Plays Waiting Game

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The Fighting Bees entered Saturday's game with Olivet Nazarene fighting for their playoff lives. After it was all said and done, SAU was still alive, defeating the Tigers 34-10 at Brady Street Stadium in their regular season finale.

SAU (8-2, 5-2) was shellacked last week by McKendree, 41-9, which put a damper on the Fighting Bee's playoff hopes, but with the win, SAU still has a chance to make a postseason appearance.

"It's been a long, long season for us as far as all the adversity we've had to face with the injuries and the overtime loss to Saint Xavier," head football coach Todd Sturdy said, "It was a grind, and we're all just very proud right now that we've accomplished something we set out to accomplish after the beating we took last week."

Olivet Nazarene (5-6, 3-4) started the game off right, getting on the board first on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Joe Boseo to Joey Brewer with 7:32 left in the first quarter. The Fighting Bees didn't take long to respond though, scoring just one minute later on a 15-yard TD pass from Jeff Kietzman to Chris Burhans. Those two hooked up six times in the game for 61 yards on a day in which they were two of the seven seniors recognized on Senior Day.

SAU has just seven seniors to honor this season, after graduating 25 players off last year's team that went 7-3. That means that this year has been even more impressive because the Fighting Bees are so young.

"I felt good about these kids since last spring. I knew we were a young team going into the year, but they just have a way about them," head football coach Todd Sturdy said, "They're a great group of guys who work hard and I thought we'd put together a good year."

St. Ambrose took the lead for good late in the first quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Evan Gutierrez. After a one-yard QB sneak by Kietzman and a 44-yard TD reception by Brett Van Hove, SAU went into the locker room with a comfortable 24-10 lead.

The Fighting Bees then came out in the second half with a ball control style of play, while trying to use the 15 mile-per-hour winds to their advantage. They were able to put the game away late in the quarter thanks to their defense. Just a couple plays after pinning Olivet near their own goal line on a punt, DeQuinn Watford picked off a Boseo pass and returned it the other way for a score and a 31-10 lead.

"DeQuinn had a great game and we really needed that interception. Corey Overton also stepped up and made a couple big plays on some long passes," said Sturdy.

That interception was the first of two for Watford, who's had an up and down season, just as much of the Fighting Bees secondary has had. Going into the game, SAU ranked 3rd in total defense in the Mid-States Football Association, but just 10th in passing 'D'.

"We haven't done a great job in the secondary this season, so it was nice to see some kids step up and make plays, and I think they've progressed well this season," Sturdy said, "Olivet came into the game with a pretty explosive offense and (Defensive Coordinator Mike) Magistrelli had a great game plan and took advantage of our personnel, which worked well for us.

SAU's eight wins is the most the program has had in three years, but they are still not guaranteed a spot in the postseason. They will find out their fate tomorrow as the NAIA will select the lucky 16 teams at 1:30 pm.

"Whatever happens, happens. We're going to meet tomorrow and walk into the room as men and accept what happens and feel pretty good about ourselves either way," Sturdy said.

St. Ambrose lost two of their last four games, but after each loss showed their resiliency by winning their very next game.

"We had opportunities this season, but we lost two games. The overtime game (vs. Saint Xavier) was a heartbreaker, but we responded, and after getting our tails kicked in last week, we responded. I didn't know what we were going to get this week after getting beat that bad and I think that's a credit to our kids that came out got the victory," Sturdy said.

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