Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Martin Luther College football team lost its conference opener at MacMurray by the score of 54-28 on Saturday.
The Knights battled the high-powered Highlanders up and down the field and led 21-20 midway through the third quarter, but the up-tempo MacMurray offense proved too tough to stop in the second half.
MLC finished the game with 309 yards rushing to go with 141 passing yards, but the Highlanders' no-huddle offense ran 86 plays in the game and gave the Knights problems in the air and on the ground.
The Knights fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, but rallied to tie the game 14-14 in the second quarter thanks to touchdown runs by Nate Stein and Josh Wong.
The Highlanders scored just before the half to take a 20-14 lead, but MLC came right back and took a 21-20 lead early in the third quarter thanks to a Justin Ruetouchdown reception from Zachary Bloomquist.
MacMurray started to assert itself from there, scoring three times to take a 40-21 lead until Bloomquist cut into the deficit with an eight-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as the Knights would get as the Highlanders added two more scores in the final minutes to seal the win.
Stein led the Knights 131 rushing yards on 17 carries. Bloomquist added 63 yards rushing and 54 yards passing. Ian Paulsen led the team with 89 yards passing and completed four of his eight attempts. Rue and Joshua Arndt combined for five receptions and finished with 58 and 55 yards receiving, respectively.
Tristan Pankow and Kenton Fabian led the defensive effort with 13 tackles apiece.Joseph Herrewig and Jared Witkowiak each recorded seven tackles and forced one fumble.
The Knights fell to 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in UMAC play in defeat, while MacMurray improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in league play with the win.
MLC will return to action on Saturday, September 16, when it hosts Iowa Wesleyan in a game scheduled to start at 12 p.m.