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LEBANON,
Ill. — Rarely do the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees lose a football game by a
large margin. Rarely do the Fighting Bees lose at Leemon Field in Lebanon,
Ill., home of No. 10 McKendree Bearcats. And rarely does one team dominate
the other. Well,
it was a rare day Saturday as the ninth-ranked Fighting Bees fell 41-3 to
the Bearcats. It was the worst loss the Fighting Bees have suffered since
a 41-0 setback on Oct. 14, 1995, on the road at Valdosta State (Ga.). It
also was the first time since Oct. 18, 2003, that the Fighting Bees (7-2,
4-2 in Mid-States Football Association Midwest Division) were held under
10 points. This was the first time the Fighting Bees lost in Lebanon,
Ill., since the teams’ first contest on Nov. 13, 1999, a 34-7 Bearcats
win. The
Bearcats (7-2, 5-1) found a solution to the Fighting Bees defense that
only had been giving up an average of 65.5 yards per game, which was tops
in the nation. On the day, McKendree, who beat St. Ambrose for the first
time in four years, racked up 341 rushing yards, the most the Fighting
Bees have allowed this season. On
the flip side, the Fighting Bees passing offense was airing out an average
of 299.1 yards per game, but quarterback Jeff Kietzman was held to
24-of-44 passing for 156 yards, one touchdown and an interception. The
Fighting Bees were without a portion of their receiving core because of
injuries. But
it was the Bearcats defense that proved to be the difference. McKendree
entered the game only allowing a national best 8.4 points per game and it
showed early. After
stopping the Bearcats on their first drive, the Fighting Bees began to
march down the field deep into McKendree territory. The
Fighting Bees traveled to the Bearcats 10-yard line, but a penalty and a
Bearcats sack pushed the Fighting Bees back to the 23-yard line. Evan
Gutierrez attempted a 40-yard field goal, but it sailed wide left. St.
Ambrose got another chance on the next play when Ben Sacco recovered a
Brendon Delaney fumble at the McKendree 22-yard line. This time the
Fighting Bees got to the 3-yard line, but settled for a 21-yard Gutierrez
field goal. McKendree
answered with a touchdown run by Dominique Jones to take a 6-3 lead. From
there the Bearcats took over. On the ensuing Fighting Bees possession,
Kietzman was intercepted by Mike Harrison. McKendree, known as a running
team, mixed things up the series to add its second touchdown of the day.
The Bearcats defense held the Fighting Bees offense the rest of the half
as St. Ambrose failed to get inside the Bearcats 40-yard line the rest of
the half. McKendree
took a 20-3 lead into the break and built on it from there adding 14
points in the third frame and tacked on seven more in the fourth. Kietzman
fired a touchdown pass to Chris Burhans with 1 minute, 43 seconds left,
but McKendree ran the clock out after that. The
Fighting Bees will close out the 2005 regular season 1 p.m. on Saturday,
Nov. 12, at Brady Street Stadium when the play host to Olivet Nazarene on
Senior Day. Return to the Football Homepage |
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