LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University will return home to Leemon Field here this Saturday as they play host to Lake Erie College for a 1 p.m. non-conference game. The Bearcat Sports Network will provide live video of the game beginning with Colin Suhre's pregame show beginning at 12:50 p.m. at www.glvcsn.com/mckendree.

Saturday's game is being billed as First Responders Day at Leemon Field as McKendree is offering free admission for all first responders and their families and several first responders will be honored on-field during halftime of the contest.

McKendree comes into the game in search of its first win of 2019 as the Bearcats are sporting an 0-2 overall record after opening the season on Sept. 4 with a 27-20 setback at home to Northern Michigan and then suffered a 45-17 loss last Saturday at Delta State.

In last Saturday's game at Delta State, the Bearcats scored the first 10 points of the game and led 17-7 just two minutes into the second quarter following a 23-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville), but the Statesmen would take a 21-17 lead at the half and then outscored the Bearcats, 24-0 in the second half to post the come-from-behind victory.

Against the Statesmen, Pullen amassed a total of 138 yards of total offense to move into fourth place on the school's all-time career total offense chart with 3,272 yards. Along with being fourth in career total offensive yards, Pullen is also fourth in career pass attempts (396), career pass completions (226) and career passing yards (2,953). On the season, Pullen has had a hand in all four of McKendree's touchdowns as he has scored two rushing touchdowns and passed for two more touchdowns as he is averaging 116.5 yards of offense on the year.

Along with Pullen, other offensive leaders for the Bearcats heading into Saturday's game are second-year freshman running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood), who leads the team in both rushing yards (128) and all-purpose yards (232), redshirt freshman Brady Feldmann (Highland, Ill./Highland) is second in rushing as he has gained 84 yards on a team-high 17 carries. Redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr., (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) and redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) led the receiving corps as they have combined to catch 16 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns as Towns, Jr., has caught eight balls for 93 yards and a score, while Bachman has also caught eight passes for 44 yards and a score.

Perhaps the strength of the Bearcats through two games has been their special teams as sophomore kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington) is a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals, including making two from 43 yards and is 4-for-4 on extra points. He is currently third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in scoring as he is averaging 6.5 points per game and is second in field goals as he is averaging 1.5 made per game. While Kastl has been strong in the early going, so too, has senior punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./Southern Illinois-Carbondale) as he is third in the league in punting as he averages 38.1 yards per punt and has had three downs travel inside the 20-yard line.

The return game has also been strong early in the season as the Bearcats are tied for third in the league in kickoff returns as they average 23 yards per return, including Leflore returning a kick 41 yards in the season opener against Northern Michigan. Leflore is averaging 29.0 yards per return, while Bachman is averaging 16.5 yards per return.

Against Delta State last Saturday, the Bearcat defense held the Statesmen to under 225 yards of offense in the first half and forced three fumbles, including two on punt returns and picked off a pass in the end zone. Through two games this season, McKendree is tied for first in turnover margin at +3.

Senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) had a monster game defensively last Saturday as he recorded a game-high 14 tackles, including 12 solo stops and also had 2.0 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. The 14 tackles were the most by a Bearcat defensive player since redshirt junior defensive back Devon Myles (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse College Prep) had 16 tackles against Southwest Baptist on Oct. 26, 2019.

Tucker leads the way defensively with 17.5 tackles and has had 3.0 tackles for loss, while redshirt sophomore linebacker KeShon Spraggins (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) has had nine tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss and sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis) has had 7.5 tackles and team-best 3.5 tackles for loss and has recorded the team's only sack through two games.

Saturday's game will mark the third of four non-conference games this season for the Bearcats and the first of two consecutive games for McKendree against an opponent from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference as the Bearcats will travel to North Canton, Ohio, next weekend for a game against Walsh University.

The game with Lake Erie will mark the 19th all-time contest for the Bearcats against a team from the Buckeye State. The Bearcats are 9-9 all-time against teams from the state of Ohio, but they haven't faced a school from Ohio since suffering a 37-28 loss to Findlay in the second game of the 2014 season.

McKendree will wrap up its non-conference slate next Saturday as they play at Walsh University, before opening GLVC play at home on Saturday, Oct. 2 with a 1 p.m. contest against William Jewell College.

ABOUT LAKE ERIE
The Storm come into Saturday's game sporting a 2-0 overall record after picking up a 31-20 road win last Saturday at Franklin Pierce. The win over Franklin Pierce followed a 31-26 win in its season opener on Sept. 2 at Clarion (Pa.) University. Saturday's game will mark the third consecutive road game this season for Lake Erie, who play its home opener next weekend against fellow GLVC member, Southwest Baptist.

Lake Erie, who was tabbed to finish eighth in the Preseason GMAC Coaches poll, comes into action on Saturday boasting an offense that is averaging 31.0 points and 422.5 yards per game. In their game last Saturday against Franklin Pierce, the Storm gained 399 yards of offense as they passed for 294 yards and ran for an additional 105 yards and also recorded 153 return yards, including junior receiver Peyton Brown collecting 123 yards on two returns, including a 90-yardf kickoff return for a score to cap the scoring in the game. For his efforts on special teams, Brown was named this week's GMAC Special Team Player of the Week.

The Storm offense is led by the play of junior quarterback Gerald Gardner. On the season, Gardner is 52-for-79 passing for 659 yards and has thrown three touchdown passes and three interceptions. Along with Gardner, freshman running Devin Brown leads the ground attack as he has gained 138 yards on 40 carries and has scored four times, while the receiving corps is led by a trio of receivers as Peyton Brown has caught 14 passes for 207 yards, while senior tight end Josh Hufstetler has caught nine passes for 148 yards and one touchdown and junior Nate Dantley, Jr., has caught 10 passes for 137 yards and a score, which was a 47-yard touchdown reception last time out.  

Perhaps the strength of the Storm is its defense as they are allowing 23 points and 298.5 yards per game on the season. The Storm forced four fumbles, picked off three passes and have had five sacks through two games this season. Lake Erie's opponents are converting on just 28 percent of their third-down plays.

Leading the way for Lake Erie's defense is junior defensive end Michael Cox, who has recorded 11 tackles, six tackles for 14 yards in loss and a team-leading five sacks for 12 yards. In addition to Cox, junior defensive back DJ Taylor is second in tackles with 10, while senior defensive back Karry Debose, Jr., leads the team in tackles with 12 and has had three tackles for loss.

On special teams, senior punter Hamady Diallo is averaging 39.7 yards per punt, while sophomore kicker Justin Smith is 2-for-2 on field goals and a perfect 8-for-8 on extra points. Peyton Brown is averaging 61.5 yards on kickoff returns and junior linebacker Raphael Brown, Jr., is averaging 22.7 yards per kickoff return.

Saturday's match-up will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.