ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The McKendree University football team completed its 2021 season here Saturday afternoon as they fell 45-30 to Lindenwood University in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Hunter Stadium on the Lindenwood campus. 

With the setback, McKendree closes the 2021 campaign with a 4-7 overall record and 3-4 mark in the GLVC, while Lindenwood, who clinched the regular season GLVC title last weekend, improved to 9-2 overall and finished league play with a 7-0 record. It is the second time since joining the league in 2019 that Lindenwood went undefeated in GLVC play. 

Despite the setback, the Bearcats had the game within one score going into the fourth quarter, before the Lions would score two straight touchdowns in the final quarter to push its lead to 45-23. McKendree capped the scoring on a one-yard touchdown plunge by redshirt quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) with 1:22 left in the game. 

"Kind of like we've seen a lot throughout the year, we had a lot of fight today. Three different times we were down by more than one score and were able to put it within one score, including being able to get into the fourth quarter and make it a one score game," McKendree head football coach Mike Babcock said following Saturday's game. "Unfortunately, we just didn't have enough today. We gave up some big plays on defense and some small execution on offense and that's on me as a coach, but at the end of the day, I love these players. They had a lot of fight; a lot of heart and it was fun watching them play today."

For the game, McKendree finished with 418 yards of offense and returned seven kickoffs for 206 yards as two Bearcats, freshman Tim Middleton II (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) and redshirt sophomore Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Chatham) each tallied 100 or more yards on kickoffs returns as Middleton returned four kicks for 106 yards and Leflore returned three kicks for 100 yards.

"We knew they (Lindenwood) were a good kickoff return team and we wanted to kind of turn the dial up and see what we could do and I was excited to see that," added Babcock.  

With its 418 yards of offense, McKendree ended the season gaining 400 or more yards in six of its last seven games and scored at least 30 points in five of its last seven games. On the season, McKendree finished with 4,613 yards on offense, which is fifth on the school's single season chart and passed for 2,665 yards, which is fourth on the single season chart. In addition, the Bearcats also set a single season school record for kickoff return yards with 1,216 yards, which bettered the old season mark of 1,200 yards set in 2018 and finished with 5,857 all-purpose yards, which is third most in a season in school history. 

Lindenwood jumped in front 14-0 early in the second quarter, before the Bearcats offense began to get into a rhythm as they drove 32 yards in seven plays on its fourth drive of the game, but failed to score when redshirt freshman kicker Kaleb Barry (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) missed a 41-yard field goal attempt. The drive was set up by a 45-yard kickoff return from redshirt sophomore running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Chatham), who finished with a career-high 217 all-purpose yards as he rushed 17 times for a career-high 115 yards and caught one pass for two yards to add his kickoff return yardage. 

After holding the Lions to minus-11 yard on its ensuing possession, the Bearcats would drive 55 yards in four plays and pull within 14-6 following a 46-yard touchdown run by Leflore, but the point-after attempt by Barry was missed. Leflore's touchdown run was McKendree's fourth-longest scoring play of the season. 

On its next offensive possession, the Bearcats drove yards in seven plays and capped the drive with a 32-yard field goal by Barry to pull within 14-9 with 2:37 left in the first half, before Lindenwood came right back and answered with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Alex Faddoul to Payton Rose with 1:40 left in the second quarter to give the Lions a 21-9 lead. 

After the Bearcats next drive would stall after three plays, Lindenwood would add a 47-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to push in front 24-9 at the half.

On its first possession of the second half, the Bearcats drove 77 yards in 10 plays and capped the drive with a 1-run touchdown run by Pullen to push the Bearcats within 24-16. 

Lindenwood would give the ball back to the Bearcats on its next possession as redshirt junior defensive back Tony Pisoni (Arnold, Mo./Fox) picked up Faddoul in the end zone to thwart a Lions touchdown and returned its 21 yards. The interception was Pisoni's team leading third of the year. 

Four plays later, though, the Bearcats would give the ball back to the Lions as Drew Sears picked off a Pullen pass for the Bearcats lone turnover of the game. One play after the interception, Faddoul carried the ball 35 yards for a touchdown to give Lindenwood a 31-16 lead with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

McKendree would once again show some resolve as they drove 77 yards in eight plays and used a 34-yard touchdown pass from Pullen to redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) to push the Bearcats back within eight points at 31-23 with 1:56 left in the third quarter. 

The Lions, who ended the regular season winning nine consecutive games after opening the year with two straight losses, pushed its lead to 38-23 just 101 seconds into the fourth quarter following a 17-yard touchdown pass from Faddoul to Payton Rose. 

Middleton would return the next kickoff off 40 yards to give the Bearcats outstanding field position for its next possession and the Bearcats would gain 20 yards on its first five plays and on a fourth-and-7 play, Pullen would connect with redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) for a 6-yard pass and on the play it appeared Towns, Jr. had gained a first down to keep the drive alive, but the spot on the play was just shy of the first down marker to turn the ball over on downs to Lindenwood. 

That fourth-down stop would help lead to another touchdown by the Lions as Faddoul would run 54 yards for a score just three plays as the fourth-down stop to push the Lions lead to 45-23 with 9:24 left in the game. 

For the game, Pullen was 30-for-50 passing for 230 yards and had one touchdown and one interception and added 60 yards rushing on 13 carries and scored two times. With his 290 yards of total offense, Pullen pushed his season total to 2,833 yards, which is third on the school's single season chart. In addition, he had a hand in three of the Bearcats' four touchdowns on Saturday to push his season total of touchdowns responsible for to 32 touchdowns as he passed for 22 and run for 11 scores and the 11 rushing score are tied for fifth on the single season chart. In addition, he has now accounted for 67 touchdowns in his career. 

With his 2,833 yards of total offense this season, Pullen pushed his career total offense mark 5,868 yards, which is second on the school's all-time chart and his 230 passing yards moved his career total to 5,212 yards, which is now second on the school's all-time chart and he is now one of three quarterbacks in school history have thrown for 5,000 or more yards in a career. 
 
"Turner was really coming into his own at the end of the season and he had that one interception today that was tipped by the defensive line, but he did a fantastic job this season," said the McKendree coach. "He is a class act, good athlete and is doing some really good things. We just need to find a way to put all the pieces together."

Bachman finished the game with 10 catches for 106 yards, while Towns, Jr., caught eight passes for 54 yards. Overall for the game, eight different players caught passes from Pullen on the day. With his 10 catches, Bachman increased his school single season record for receptions to 81 as he finished the season with 81 catches for 857 yards and had three touchdown receptions. His 857 yards receiving are second most in a season in the program's history and he is now one of just three players in school history to record 800 more yards receiving in a season. 

Meanwhile, Towns, Jr., closed out his career with 97 career catches for 1,531 yards and he had 15 career touchdown receptions. The 97 career catches are sixth most in school history, while the 1,531 receiving yard is third most in school history and he is one three receivers in the program's history to record 1,500 or more career receiving yards. 

Defensively, the Bearcats sacked Faddoul four times for 22 yards in losses and recorded 5.0 tackles for loss in the game. Sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis) paced the Bearcats with 12 tackles, including six solo stops and had two sacks, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hurries. Houston finished the year with a team-leading 7.5 sacks and had 10 tackles for a loss and seven quarterback hurries. Senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) led the team in tackles (85), solo tackles (48) and tackles for loss (10.5) and was tied for second in sacks with four. 

On the season, the Bearcats defense recorded 24 sacks and 65 tackles for loss in 11 games.
 
"At the end of the day, I think we have a good culture on where we're at and we need to continue to worry about the details and the little things and we can't let, you know, whether its penalties, whether its missed assignments, whether it's a dropped ball, we can't allow those to be the reason why we lose," added Babcock when what he learned about his team this season.

Lindenwood finished Saturday's game with 516 yards of offense as they ran the ball 36 times for 255 yard and Faddoul passed for 261 yards as he was 20-for-34 with an interception and two touchdowns and added a team-best 126 yards rushing on 16 carries and scored twice on the ground. 

Giaimo added 89 yards rushing on nine carries, while Nash Sutherlin had eight rushes for 48 yards in the win. 

Three different Lions caught five passes in the game as Glen Gibbons, Jr. caught five passes for 89 yards, while Spencer Redd added five catches for 88 yards and Ross caught five passes for 49 yards. 

The Lions entered the game ranked fourth in Division II in kickoff returns as they were averaging 26.6 yards per kickoff return on the season, but were held to just 128 yards on five returns on Saturday as Redd returned two kickoffs for 63 yards and tallied 156 all-purpose yards, while Andrew Martin added three returns for 65 yards. 

Sears and Andrew Rodriguez paced the Lions defense with 12 tackles each in the win. 
 
Saturday's game was the final one of McKendree's 18 member senior class and the seniors that played their game in Purple and White were Pisoni, Towns, Jr., Tucker, punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./SIU-Carbondale), offensive lineman Larry Davis III (Country Clubs Hills, Ill./Rich Central), quarterback Brenden Dickmann (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), defensive back Kenneth Garrett, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven), offensive lineman Austin Huls (St. Charles, Mo./Pattonville), defensive lineman Jamari Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Goode STEM Academy), tight end Jace Kennedy (Dwight, Ill./Dwight), linebacker Iben King (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice), defensive back Devon Myles (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse College Prep), quarterback Elijah Oltean (St. Joseph, Ill./St. Joseph-Ogden), linebacker Bennett Richter (Breese, Ill./Breese Central), offensive lineman Dea'Veon Harden-Smith (Zion, Ill./Zion Benton Township), center Jake Stevenson (Ludlow, Ill./Paxton-Buckley-Ludlow), receiver Jonathan Turner, Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Hubbard) and defensive lineman Isaiah Ward (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame).
 
One other milestone was achieved in Saturday's game as Stevenson started his school record 46th consecutive game under center on Saturday since the beginning of the 2017 season.