QUINCY, Ill. - Trailing 31-7 just 47 seconds into the third quarter, McKendree University rallied to score 44 second half points, including 30 points in the fourth quarter to post a 51-48 come-from-behind victory over Quincy University in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at QU Stadium. 

With the win, McKendree imoproves to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the league, while Quincy falls to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the league. 

The 30 point fourth quarter are the most points scored by the Bearcats in a quarter since scoring 35 points in the second quarter of a 62-34 win over Quincy on Nov. 9, 2019. 

"At the end of the day, I am just very proud of the team. All the miscues, whether it was penalities, whether it was the fumbles, whether it was the turnovers, they ended up coming back and showing fight and showing grit. Our motto this year is keep pumping and the guys kept pumping to the end," McKendree head football coach Mike Babcock said following the game. "We had some guys just step up and make some big plays, especially down the stretch. I'll just be brutely honest, at the end of the day, I've got Ethan (Young) with probably one of the best plays, at the best time and I've got a kicker that is almost on his death bed and hobbling around and comes back after missing the extra point that would've given us the go-ahead and about two minutes later, kicks the game winning field goal and then at the end to have a blocked field goal for the win." 

McKendree's win was sealed on 39-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington) with 25 seconds left in the game. Kastl's winning kick came nine plays after freshman defensive back Ethan Young (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) picked off Quincy quarterback Tionne Harris at QU's 43-yard line. Young's interception came after redshirt sophomore quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) ran 25 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 48 with 1:47 left in the game. The ensuing extra point by Kastl was missed to keep the game tied. 

Following Kastl's 39-yard field goal that gave the Bearcats its first lead since late in the first quarter, the Hawks had one more chance to either tie or win the game. On that drive, QU drove 36 yards in four plays and with three seconds on the clock, QU's Michael Klotz came onto the field to attempt a 48-yard game-tying field goal, but the Bearcats were able to mount a surge at the line and redshirt sophomore defensive back Darrwin Perkins II (Crete, Ill./Marian Catholic) and redshirt junior defensive lineman Jamari Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy) were able to penetrate the line and block the kick to seal the win and set off a wild celebration by the Bearcats. 

"We had some guys just step up and make some big plays, especially down the stretch. I'll just be brutely honest, at the end of the day, I've got Ethan (Young) with probably one of the best plays, at the best time and I've got a kicker that is almost on his death bed and hobbling around and comes back after missing the extra point that would've given us the go-ahead and about two minutes later, kicks the game winning field goal and then at the end to have a blocked field goal for the win." 

In the fourth quarter, McKendree's offense gained 304 yards and scored on five of its six possessions as the Bearcats finished the game with a season high 559 yards of offense, including passing for a season high 358 yards. In addition, the Bearcats carried the ball 39 times for 201 yards. 

"We came out very flat today, especially myself, but in the second half, we made some adjustments and in the end I am just so proud of this team. That fourth quarter was just awesome and I am just proud to have been a part of it," said Pullen, who has now accounted for 54 touchdowns in his McKendree career, which is tied with Reece Metcalf for second most in school history. 

Quincy, who has now lost nine straight games in the series to McKendree, pushed its lead to 41-21 just 89 seconds into the fourth quarter following a 2-yard touchdown run by Jalen Griffin. 

On the ensuing possession, Pullen connected with redshirt senior tight end Jace Kennedy (Dwight, Ill./Dwight) for an 11-yard pass completion, but on the play, Kennedy fumbled the ball and the Hawks recovered it and returned it five yards to the Bearcat 31-yard line. Two plays later, though, the Bearcats got the ball back following an interception in the end zone by redshirt defensive back Kenneth Garrett, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven).

The interception seemed to spark the Bearcats offense as they drove 80 yards in four plays and pulled within 41-28 following a 40-yard touchdown pass from Pullen to redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) with 11:37 left in the game.

After holding the Hawks to a three-and-out on its next possession, the Bearcats would mount another scoring drive as they drove 77 yards in five plays and capped the drive with sa 14-yard touchdown pass from Pullen to Kennedy to pull McKendree within six points at 41-35 with 8:09 left in the game. The big play on the drive was a 47-yard pass reception from Pullen to second-year freshman receiver Diontay Griffin (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington). 

Quincy would respond with a 47-yard drive that took six plays and was capped by a 2-yard run by Harris, which came one play after the Bearcats were called for a pass interference in the end zone on a third-and-11 play. The penalty gave the Hawks an automatic first down. Harris' score made the score 48-35 in favor of Quincy. 

The Bearcats would answer right back as they drove 62 yards in five plays and capped the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Pullen to Kennedy to cut QU's lead to 48-42 with four minutes remaining. The drive was aided by a 15-yard run by Pullen and a pass interference penalty by the Hawks. 

Quincy would once again be held to just three plays on its next possession, including sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis) sacking Harris for a 4-yard loss on a third-and-two play. 

That sack would once again inject some more life in the Bearcats as they drove 53 yards in four plays to tie the game on Pullen's 25-yard run. The play was set up by a 28-yard pass completion from Pullen to redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka). 

For the game, Pullen would finish 23-for-44 passing for a career-high 358 yards and had four touchdowns to go along with his three first half interceptions. In addition to the 358 passing yards, Pullen added a game-high 82 rushing yards to finish with a career high 440 yards of total offense. That mark was 38 yards shy of Isaac Fisher's school record 478 yards against West Liberty in 2015. 

"I thought Turner settled down. He was able to see what they were giving him and he came in and made some great throws, made some great runs. He is a very dynamic guy that can give us some juice when we need it," Babcock added about Pullen's play. "It was fun to see him finish out that game the way he did."

In addition to Pullen, senior running back Jace Franklin IV (Springfield, Ill./Minnesota State) added 56 yards rushing and caught one pass for 11 yards, while second-year freshman running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Chatham) had 48 yards rushing and accounted for 158 all-purpose yards as he returned five kickoffs for 110 yards. 

Towns, Jr. finished the game with six receptions for 91 yards, while Bachman added five catches for 84 yards and Kennedy caught four passes for 57 yards. For the game, nine different receivers caught a pass from Pullen. 

Saturday's win seemed improbable at the half as the Bearcats committed four turnovers that led to 17 points for Quincy in helping the Hawks hold a 24-7 lead after the opening 30 minutes of action. In fact, 17 of QU's 24 first half points came off McKendree turnovers. 

McKendree entered Saturday's game 13th in Division II in turnover margin as they had forced 11 turnovers on defense and had committed just four on offense, but the Bearcats doubled that doubled that number in the first half with its four turnovers and finshed the game with a total of six turnovers as along with Pullen's three interceptions, the Bearcats lost three fumbles on the day. They entered the game having lost just one fumble on the season through the first six games. 

While McKendree had six turnovers for the day, Quincy committed three turnovers and two of those miscues led to 10 second half points the Bearcats. 

"We knew coming in that they (Quincy) were a Top 10 team in the nation in turnovers gained and they showed that today," the McKendree coach added. 

After Quincy got on the scoreboard thanks to a 42-yard field goal by Klotz with 7:05 left in the first quarter, the Bearcats would respond with as 75-yard drive that was capped by an 8-yard touchdown run by Franklin to give the Bearcats a 7-3 lead. The run was aided by two 15-yard penalities that gave the Bearcats automatic first downs, with the first one being a roughing the kick penalty on McKendree senior punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./SIU-Carbondale) and the second was a 15-yard facemask penalty on Pullen.

The Hawks answered right back as Angel Ruiz caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Tionne Harris to give QU a 10-7 lead just six seconds into the second quarter. 

QU's lead grew to 17-7 with 6:57 left in the second quarter following an 18-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Paul Sullivan. That score was set following an interception by Pullen and the Hawks completed their first half scoring on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Eugene Witherspoon. Witherspoon's score was his 13th touchdown reception of the season. That scoring drive was also set by another interception from Pullen. 

Quincy, who gained 194 yards of offense in the first half, finished the game with 450 yards as they passed for 364 yards and rushed for 86 yards on 30 carries.

"They (QU) does a good job at going for the big play and you saw that in the first half, but we forced them to kind of dink it. They made some plays down the stretch, but I think we were able to come up and make some plays when we needed to and came up with some turnovers that really changed the game," Babcock added about the play of his defense.  

Harris paced the Hawks offense as he was 31-for-48 passing for 364 yards and had four touchdown passes and two interceptions. AJ Hardin, who gave QU a 31-7 lead following his 75 yard pass recpetion just 47 seconds into the third quarter, caught seven passes for 143 yards, while Sullivan, Jr. caught 10 passes for 96 yards and a score. Witherspoon, who entered the game averaging 113 receiving yards per game and 26.1 yards per reception, was held to just three catches for 31 yards as he was targeted eight times. 

Redshirt sophomore linebacker KeShon Spraggins (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) paced the Bearcats defense with eight tackles, incliding a half-tackle for a loss, while senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) added seven tackles, inclduing five solo stops. The Bearcats had a sack and 6.0 tackles for loss and picked off two passes. 

The Bearcats will return home next Saturday, Oct. 23 as they host Missouri S&T for Homecoming 2021 at Leemon Field. Kickoff for the homecoming game with the Miners is set for 1 p.m.