LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University football team continued its trend this season of playing just one good half of football as the Bearcats got down 17-0 midway through the second quarter, but rallied to scored 10 straight points and had the ball with a chance to tie the game in the closing minutes but fell just short as they lost 17-10 to Lake Erie College on First Responders Day at Leemon Field.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls to 0-3 on the season, while Lake Erie improved to 3-0 on the year. The 0-3 start is the second in the last three years for the Bearcats as they also opened the 2019 season with three consecutive losses.
 
In the season opener against Northern Michigan two weeks ago, the Bearcats were held to 40 yards and no points in the first half, before scoring 20 points and picking up 142 yards of offense after halftime in its 27-20 setback to the Wildcats and then last Saturday at Delta State, the Bearcats led 17-7 just two minutes into the second quarter and held a 276-206 edge in offensive yards in the first half, but being outscored 24-0 in the second half and being held to just 33 yards of offense.
 
"Before the game, I talked to the guys about playing for four quarters. I felt like our first two games, we played one good half and one not so good half, so I wanted to put together four quarters together, however, today I think we played four quarters, but we beat ourselves and that is something I told the team afterwards," McKendree head coach Mike Babcock said following the game. "We had 14 penalties for 145 yards, we can't have stupid penalties and I thought there definitely were some stupid penalties out here today. We can't let McKendree beat McKendree."
 
McKendree was its own worst enemy in Saturday's game as they were flagged 14 times for 145 yards in penalties and saw sophomore kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington) miss a field goal for the first time this season. One of McKendree's penalties was pass interference call on a 2-and-9 play that would eventually lead to LEC's third score of the game. The 14 penalties were just three shy of the school record of 17 last set against Olivet Nazarene in 2010.
 
For the game, McKendree's offense outgained Lake Erie, 375-239, including running the ball 46 times for 224 yards, with senior running back Jace Franklin IV (Springfield, Ill./Minnesota State) recording 148 yards rushing on 17 carries and scored the Bearcats' lone touchdown on a 15-yard run early in the third quarter.
 
"We knew when your starting quarterback is out and your starting wide receiver is out, you have to take over the run game a little bit and I thought for the most they did a great job," Babcock said when asking about his team's rushing effort. "Jace did a tremendous job today. This was his true first week of actually getting back in it as he had a tough spring and a tough first game or do because of COVID, but it was nice to get him in his stride."
 
The 46 rushes are the most for the Bearcats in a game since running the ball 52 times for 260 yards in a 62-34 win in 2019 against Quincy. The 224 yards rushing were a season high, while the 148 yards by Franklin were the most in game since his career 185 yards against Wheeling Jesuit in 2019.
 
Along with Franklin's 148 yards rushing, redshirt freshman running back Brady Feldmann (Highland, Ill./Highland) added 56 yards on 13 carries as the Bearcats turned to its running game due to the absence of starting quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville), who was injured on a late hit in the third quarter last week against Delta State.
 
In Pullen's place, the Bearcats turned the reigns of the offense over to redshirt junior quarterback Brenden Dickmann (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville). Dickmann was 18-for-29 passing for 136 yards, but was sacked two times in the loss.
 
Dickmann's primary target through the air was redshirt sophomore Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) as he caught seven passes on seven targets for 67 yards. The Bearcats were also without its leading receiver on the season as redshirt junior Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) was also injured in last week's 45-17 loss at Delta State.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Bearcats had three possessions and all three ended without points, including taking over the ball with 4:58 left in the game and the ball on Lake Erie's 33-yard line. McKendree drove 18 yards on seven plays, but had four straight incompletions, including one on a fourth-and-4 play to turn the ball over on downs.
 
The Storm, though, would run three plays for six yards and would be forced to punt the ball back to McKendree with 1:40 left in the game and no timeouts remaining. That final drive resulted in four plays for a total of nine yards, including a five-yard pass play from Dickmann to Bachman, but the play was one-yard short of first down on a fourth-and-6 play.
 
On the ensuing possession, the Storm would only need to run two plays to close out the game.
 
Trailing 17-3 at the half, the Bearcats offense got into a groove on its first possession of the second half as they drove 69 yards in seven plays and capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run by Franklin to cut LEC's lead to 17-10. The big play on the drive was a 44-yard run by Franklin that put the Bearcats into the red zone.
 
After the Storm were forced to punt on their first possession of the third quarter, the Bearcats had another drive go into the red zone, but on a third-and-1 play from the six yard line, Bachman had his pass intercepted by Phillip Hawkins to end what might have been a game-tying score.
 
The Bearcats would have another drive into the red zone early in the fourth quarter as they took the ball on their 50-yard line with 57 seconds left in the third quarter. Three plays later the Bearcats were once again in the red zone thanks to an 11-yard pass from Dickmann to redshirt senior tight end Jace Kennedy (Dwight, Ill./Dwight) and an 11-yard run by Feldmann. The drive, though, would falter as the Bearcats gained just three more yards over its next four plays, including going for it from LEC's 9-yard line on a fourth-and-8 play. On that play, Bachman rushed for a one yard gain.
 
LEC got into the scoring column late in the first quarter and Justin Smith capped an eight play, 63-yard drive by the Storm with a 34-yard field goal. That possession was continued after the Bearcats were called for a roughing the passer penalty on a third-and-5 play. The penalty gave the Storm an automatic first down and five plays later Smith made the field goal.
 
Lake Erie's scoring drive began as Kastl missed a 32-yard field goal attempt on McKendree's first possession of the game. Kastl's field goal came after the Bearcats got a second life on the possession after LEC was flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty on McKendree senior punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./SIU-Carbondale).
 
The Storm made it 10-0 just a little over two minutes into the second quarter as Peyton Brown caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Gerald Gardner.
 
Lake Erie would push its lead to 17-0 following an 11-yard touchdown reception from Gardner to Nate Dantley, Jr. That drive was aided by four McKendree penalties, including pass interference penalty on redshirt sophomore defensive back Kenneth Scarbrough II (East St. Louis, Mo./East St. Louis) that put the ball in the red zone for the Storm.
 
On the ensuing possession, the Bearcats would drive 76 yards in 14 plays and cap the drive with a 27-yard field goal by Kastl to cut Lake Erie's lead to 17-3 with 57 seconds left in the first half.
 
Lake Erie's offense was paced by Eric Daniels catching three passes for 59 yards, while Devin Brown caught three passes for 44 yards as the Storm passed for just 161 yards in the game.
 
Brown led the rushing attack with 35 yards on 11 carries, while back-up quarterback Xeavier Bullock gained 23 yards after replacing Gardner, who was injured late in the first half.
 
Gardner finished the game 9-for-15 passing for 126 yards and two scores, while Bullock was 3-for-8 passing for 35 yards and was sacked four times as the Bearcats finished the game with five sacks and 13 tackles for loss, including a 2.5 tackles for 10 yards in losses by freshman defensive lineman Jacob Stoneburner (Effingham, Ill./Effingham).  
 
Senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) paced the Bearcat defende with nine tackles, including five solo stops and added 1.5 sacks and two tackles for a loss and one fumble recovery. Redshirt sophomore linebacker KeShon Spraggins (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) added seven tackles and three pass break-ups for the game.
 
The Bearcats struggled in the red zone in Saturday's game as they were just 2-for-6 in red zone chances, while Lake Erie was a perfect 3-for-3.
 
While McKendree was flagged 14 times for 145 yards, Lake Erie had 11 penalties for 107 yards.
 
McKendree will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule next Saturday, Sept. 25 as they travel to North Canton, Ohio, for a 2 p.m. ET game against Walsh University in Bob Commings Field at Canton GlenOak High School. Walsh enters the game sporting a 1-2 record after suffering a 38-17 loss on Saturday at fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference member Quincy University.