LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree Football team opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play here Saturday afternoon with an impressive 52-10 victory over William Jewell College on front nearly 800 fans on Pink Out and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day at Leemon Field.
 
With the victory, the Bearcats have won two consecutive games to improve to 2-3 on the season and McKendree also has now won six of its last six of their last seven GLVC openers with five of those wins coming against William Jewell. Jewell fell to 0-5 on the season and has now lost 18 consecutive games dating to the 2019 season opener.
 
Saturday's game was over at halftime as the Bearcats scored on seven of its eight possessions in the first half and led 17-0 after one quarter and 38-3 at halftime. In the first half, the Bearcats outgained the Cardinals, 380-121.

"I think the biggest thing about today was we started fast. Our offense was able to move the ball and probably had our best throwing day that we've had this season and our defense again played lights out," McKendree head football coach Mike Babcock said following the win. "Our goal is to always score points when we hit the field, but at the end of the day, it was to continue to worry about us. I'm not worried about William Jewell or whoever we're playing, I'm worried about us and us competing and us executing at a high level."
 
The 52 points were the most scored by McKendree since they scored 50 in a 51-50 loss at Missouri S&T to close the 2019 season, while the 38 first half points were the most for the Bearcats in the first half since scoring 41 points in a 62-34 home win over Quincy (Ill.) University.
 
For the game, McKendree finished with a season high 551 yards of offense, gained a season high 27 first downs and passed for a season high 341 yards as the three quarterbacks that played for the Bearcats completed 74 percent of their passes as they were a combined 20-for-27 for 341 yards and four touchdowns, including redshirt sophomore Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) was 17-for-23 passing for a season-high 328 yards and tossed a four touchdown passes, three of which went for 30 or more yards.  

Babcock was pleased to see his team's offense perform well on Saturday as that is something they hadn't accomplished this season prior to Saturday's performance. 

"I thought the wide receivers did an outstanding job and I thought Turner had his best day so far," Babcock added. "I was excited to see our offense click the way it did today. The guys were coming up with big plays and that was fun to watch."  

Pullen's 328 yards passing were the second most in a game in his collegiate career, while the four touchdown passes were one shot of his career best of five set in 2019 against Chowan.
 
The 551 yards of offense are the most in a game for the Bearcats since they gained 567 yards of offense against Quincy in their final home game of the 2019 season.
 
Redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) caught four passes for a career-high 140 yards and three touchdowns, including a 76-yarder to give the Bearcats 31-0 lead just four minutes into the second quarter. The three touchdown receptions tied a single game school record that has now been tied three times in school history with the most recent time coming from Matt Cole against Chowan in 2019 

In addition to Towns, Jr., redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) caught eight passes for 106 yards. It marked the first time since the William Jewell game in 2018 that McKendree had two receivers gain over 100 yards in the same game. In that game, Towns, Jr., caught two passes for 100 yards and a score and Jalyn Williams caught three balls for 100 yards and a touchdown.
 
Along with passing for 341 yards, the Bearcats also rushed 210 yards, including senior running back Jace Franklin IV (Springfield, Ill./Minnesota State) gaining 95 yards on 10 carrries and scoring twice. With his 95 yards, Franklin moved into eighth place on the school's all-time rushing chart with 1,797 yards and is just three yard shy of becoming the eighth Bearcat to rush for 1,800 career yards.
 
The Bearcats got things going early in Saturday's game as on the first offensive play from scrimmage by WJC, redshirt sophomore defensive back Kenneth Scarbrough II (East St. Louis, Mo./East St. Louis) picked up a pass from Anthony Pritzel and three plays later, Franklin IV scored on a 7-yard touchdown run just 67 seconds into the game.
 
After the Bearcat defense recorded a strip sack by senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) to stall WJC's next drive, the Bearcats needed five plays to score its second touchdown as Pullen hooked up with Towns, Jr., for a 17-yard touchdown reception. On the drive, Pullen was 3-for-4 passing for 43 yards, including a 17-yard pass completion to Bachman to put the Bearcats into the red zone.
 
On its third possession of the game, the Bearcats drove 75 yards in 11 plays and capped the drive with a 31-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington) to make 17-0 with 5:25 left in the opening half. The big play on the drive was a 23-yard rush by Franklin.
 
WJC had a scoring opportunity late in the first quarter as they drove 46 yards on nine plays, but a 46-yard field goal attempt by Josh Click was missed.
 
In the first quarter, the Bearcats ran 22 plays for 179 yards and gained 10 first downs and passed for 131 yards and held the Cardinals to just 40 yards on 15 plays.
 
The missed field goal by Click set up another scoring drive for the Bearcats as on the second play of the second quarter, Pullen connects with Towns, Jr., for a 38-yard touchdown reception to give the Bearcats a 24-0 lead.
 
On McKendree's next possession, Towns, Jr., gave the Bearcats a 31-0 lead as he caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Pullen. The 76-yard touchdown pass is the longest play of the season for the Bearcats.
 
The Cardinals would find the scoreboard on its seventh possession of the game as they drove 40 yards in nine plays and scored on a 45-yard field goal by Click to drop McKendree's lead to 31-3 with 3:44 left in the half.
 
McKendree, though, came right back on its next possession and drove 75 yards in four plays and completed the drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Pullen to redshirt sophomore receiver Tyler Siever (Carlyle, Ill./Carlyle) to take a 38-3 lead. The drive began with a 42-yard run by Franklin.
 
WJC drove the ball down to McKendree's 3-yard line on the ensuing possession, but the Bearcat defense kept the Cardinals from scoring, including Pritzel recording two straight incompletions to end the first half.
 
In the first half, McKendree gained 380 yards of offense and had 15 first downs and passed for 275 yards and held WJC to 121 yards on 43 plays.  McKendree averaged 11.9 yards per play in the first half.
 
The Bearcats returned to scoring column on its second possession of the second half as Franklin rushed five yards for a touchdown to give McKendree a 45-3 lead. The big plays on the drive were a 23-yard pass from Pullen to redshirt senior tight end Jace Kennedy (Dwight, Ill./Dwight) on a third-and-6 play and a 17-yard pass from Pullen to Bachman to put the Bearcats in the red zone.
 
Click would misfire on a 27-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter following Franklin's score.
 
McKendree would extend its lead to 52-3 just a little over four minutes into the fourth quarter as redshirt junior quarterback Brenden Dickmann (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) scored on a 13-yard run to complete a 12-play, 80-yard drive. The drive was continued after WJC was flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty on Bearcats senior punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./SIU-Carbondale).
 
WJC would complete the game's scoring on its first drive of the fourth quarter as the Cardinals drove 60 yards in nine plays and capped the drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Pritzel to Jalik Jaggwe.
 
McKendree's defense held the Cardinals to 272 yards on 70 plays, including 71 yards rushing on 33 carries. The Bearcats have now held its last three opponents to less than 75 yards rushing.
 
Pritzel finished the game 17-for-37 for 201 yards passing and was sacked twice, while Jaggwe was targeted 14 times and caught six passes for 83 yards for the Cardinals and Tabren Yates led the ground attack with 25 yards on 11 carries.
 
Along with recording two sacks which came from both Tucker and sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis), the Bearcats also had five tackles for a loss and forced two turnovers. Through five games this season, the Bearcats defense has forced nine turnovers with six fumbles and three interceptions.
 
McKendree is now 9-0 all-time against William Jewell since the teams starting competing as members of the GLVC in 2012. The Bearcats have averaged 41 points per game against the Cardinals in that span and allowed just 20.2 points on defense.
 
The Bearcats will look to make it three consecutive wins next Saturday, Oct. 9 as McKendree travels to Indianapolis for a 5 p.m. CT game against the University of Indianapolis. The Greyhounds enter the game sporting a 3-2 overall record and a 1-0 mark in the GLVC after picking up a 77-10 win Saturday at Southwest Baptist in its league opener.