LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University football team hits the road for the first time this season when the Bearcats travel to Cleveland, Miss., to face Delta State University in a non-conference tilt at Parker Field-McCool Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and will mark the first of only two night kickoffs this season for the Bearcats.
 
McKendree enters Saturday's game sporting an 0-1 record after falling 27-20 at home this past Saturday in its season opener against Northern Michigan at Leemon Field. Against the Wildcats, McKendree trailed 13-0 at the half, before scoring 13 unanswered points in the third quarter to tie the game heading into in the fourth quarter. In the final quarter, the two team traded touchdowns, before NMU scored a touchdown with 6:20 left in the game.
 
"One of the big positive from Saturday's opener was the guys didn't quit. Down 13-0 at the half, but were able to come back and tie the game and then go down 20-13 and then come back and tie the game, but unfortunately some of those details, some of the little things prevented us from getting the win, but that is something we need to fix this week," McKendree head football coach Mike Babcock said about his team's season opener.
 
In the opener, the Bearcats offense gained a total of 182 yards, with 142 of them coming after halftime. Second-year freshman running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood) paced the Bearcats offense as he gained 68 yards on 12 carries and accounted for 136 all-purpose yards as he returned two kickoffs for 71 yards.
 
In addition to Leflore, redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) caught seven passes for 89 yards, including the game tying touchdown on a 23-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) with 9:13 left in the game. Pullen went 11-for-22 passing for 102 yards, while Towns, Jr., caught seven passes for 89 yards.
 
Sixth-year senior center Jake Stevenson (Ludlow, Ill./Paxton-Buckley-Loda) is expected to make his 37th consecutive start as a Bearcat, while Pullen, who was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2019, enters the game just 47 yards shy of passing Daryle Jones for fourth on the school's career total offense chart. Jones gained 3,187 yards of total offense, while Pullen has recorded 3,141 yards coming into play this weekend.
 
Defensively, McKendree was paced by three players with seven tackles each. Those three players with seven tackles were redshirt sophomore lineback KeShon Spraggins (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South), fifth-year senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep) and sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis). Houston added a sack and three tackles for loss.
 
Sophomore kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington) kicked field goals of 39 and 43 yards in the third quarter to help the Bearcats tie game.
 
The loss marked just the third loss for the Bearcats in a season opener in the last seven seasons and first since a 30-9 loss in Marquette, Mich., to Northern Michigan in the 2019 season debut.
 
Saturday's game at Delta State marks the first of six contests for McKendree in 2021. The Bearcats went 2-3 on the road during the most recently completed full season in 2019. In addition to being the first road game of the season for the Bearcats, the game will also mark the first-ever meeting between the Statesmen and Bearcats on the gridiron and the first time McKendree is facing a team from the Gulf South Conference.
 
After its trip to the Mississippi Delta this weekend, McKendree will return to Leemon Field next Saturday for its third consecutive non-conference game of 2021. The Bearcats will host Lake Erie College next Saturday – Sept. 18 – with a kickoff slated for 1 pm.
 
ABOUT DELTA STATE
The Statesmen, who earned 46 votes in this week's AFCA Division II Coaches poll, comes into Saturday's match-up with the Bearcats sporting a 1-0 record after opening its 2021 season last Thursday with a 48-14 home win over Bethel (Tenn.) University. In the opener against Bethel, Delta State, who was playing its first game since 2019 as they didn't play any games during the 2020-21 school year, scored 20 points in the first quarter and scored a total of 34 points in the opening half. The 34 points were the sixth most in a first half under current head coach Todd Cooley. For the game, DSU tallied 509 yards of offense as they recorded 237 passing yards and 191 yards rushing.
 
In the win, six different Statesmen players rushed the ball as Rico Owens led the way with 85 yards on eight carries and two touchdowns. Along with Owens, Patrick Shegog started at quarterback and he was 16-for-19 for 196 yards and three scores, while Dohnte Meyers and Deion Dampier combined to catch 10 passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns, including Dampier hauling into two of those three touchdown catches.
 
Defensively, Sherrod Page recorded two of DSU's four interceptions in the game and also led the Statesmen with seven tackles, including six solo stops. The Statesmen held Bethel to 356 yards of offense as they averaged just 5.2 yards per play as they ran a total of 68 plays.
Cooley, who is in his eighth season as Delta State's coach, is 44-32 and is 37-5 all-time in Cooley's tenure when scoring 30 or more points and is 36-3 when leading at halftime. Prior to coming to Delta State, Cooley spent four seasons (2009-12) as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Northwestern (La.) State University.
 
Delta State won the 2000 NCAA Division II National Championship in football and has captured seven all-time GSC titles, four NCAA Regional titles and has made nine all-time NCAA playoff appearances. In the preseason GSC poll, the Statesmen were picked to finish third as they collected 33 points and six Statesmen (three on offense and three on defense) were named to the Preseason All-GSC Team.