Fighting Bees crush Statesmen

by: Chris Hassel
Staff Writer

The Fighting Bees showed no ill effects from an overtime loss last week at St. Xavier. SAU scored 30 unanswered points and ran away from the William Penn Statesmen 43-10 on Saturday afternoon at Brady Street Stadium.

Quarterback Jeff Kietzman had his way with the Statesmen secondary all game, throwing for 431 yards and six touchdowns to five different receivers.

It was a special day for two SAU receivers who recorded their first touchdowns at the college level. Sophomore Jacob Fouts caught a 7-yard touchdown pass and senior wide- out Shane Jones tallied his first score on a 35-yard reception.

"I had a touchdown last week that was called back," Jones said. "It feels great to finally get one."

Shortly after the touchdown reception in the second quarter, Jones hurt his right hamstring and did not return. Fellow wide-receiver Brandin Smith re-aggravated his right shoulder and will be evaluated this week.

"I’m going to do whatever I can to get on the field next week," Jones said. "I’ll be rehabbing it four or five times a day."

Running Back Adam Norland was the third Fighting Bee to go down. He separated his shoulder with one minute to go in the game.

"I’ve never seen anything like it," head coach Todd Sturdy said. "This is definitely the toughest season, injury wise, that we’ve had to deal with here."

However, despite the injuries the Statesmen never challenged the Bees. William Penn had a 7-6 lead in the first quarter, but after an 8-yard pass from Kietzman to Chris Burhans, the Fighting Bees never trailed again.

"The kids just go out every week and fight," Sturdy said. "I really can’t say enough about everything they have had to endure this season. That shows a lot of character."

Despite missing the entire second half, Smith caught 5 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown. Burhans had his best game of the season, with 7 receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns.

The Fighting Bees defense played like they had something to prove. After giving up a season-high 38 points last week including two fourth quarter touchdowns, the defense gave up just 263 yards and held the MSFA offensive player of the week James Jackson to 100 yards rushing on 32 carries.

"We just did a great job defensively all day," Sturdy said. "They played lights out once again."

SAU moves to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in conference. The Bees travel to Lebanon, Illinois next Saturday to take on the Mckendree College Bearcats. Both teams are tied with St. Xavier for first place in the MSFA Midwest Division. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.