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SAU Burns Up the Turf Against Taylor

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- St. Ambrose began Saturday's game on fire against Taylor University, and the Trojans weren't able to put out the inferno all day. The 13th ranked Fighting Bees rolled to a 56-7 victory to improve their record to 3-0.

SAU showed what the day would have in store for the fans at Brady Street Stadium on their opening drive. The first play of the game was a 10 yard reception by Tim Turkowski, which was followed by a 26 yard catch, also by Turkowski, who is rapidly becoming quarterback Jeff Kietzman's favorite target.

"We felt like we needed to come out and rely a little bit more on the pass because of the defense that they were going to throw at us, and it worked well for us," head coach Todd Sturdy said.

The big reason it worked so well was the performance of rising star Turkowski, who grabbed a career high nine catches for 156 yards, including a big 54 yard reception in the second quarter to push SAU's lead to 35-7 as they headed to the locker room for the half.

"We had a lot of guys that had good performances today, including Turkowski," said Sturdy, "He had a great day, and made a lot of big plays which opened up a lot of things for us," Sturdy said.

One of the other players who had a big day was Kietzman, who was on target virtually all day, completing 26 of his 34 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns and zero interceptions while also scoring on a one yard quarterback sneak to cap off the Fighting Bees' opening drive.

The offense wasn't the only thing running on all cylinders. The Fighting Bee defense was just as stingy as the offense was explosive. SAU allowed just 99 yards on the ground, while holding the Trojans to 255 yards of total offense, compared to 613 yards for St. Ambrose.

"Our kids concentrated very well, and we executed at a very high level on both offense and defense," said Sturdy, "I think we took some big steps as a football team today."

One key to SAU's defensive domination was the five turnovers they recorded, including four interceptions, while committing no turnovers on the offensive side of the ball, which kept the Fighting Bee defense fresh and rested.

"We won the turnover ratio, which is always a big goal for us," Sturdy said, "If you win the turnover battle, things are usually going to turn out favorably for you."

The win is satisfying for St. Ambrose, but during a grueling football season, there isn't much time to dwell on losses, or savor victories.

"We'll enjoy this one right now, and get back to work on Monday because next week will be a new challenge," Sturdy said.

That new challenge will come in the form of St. Francis (Ill.), who will travel to Brady Street Stadium next Saturday for SAU's first conference game of the season.

"This win is great for our confidence because we're still a young team," said Sturdy, "We needed a game like this where we came out and executed and gained the confidence that we needed going into the start of the conference season next week."

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