JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Bearcats opened up GLVC play against the newest member of the conference, the Lincoln University Blue Tigers on Saturday, September 14th. Behind 457 yards of offense, McKendree improved to 1-0 in GLVC play with the 34-19 win. This marked Interim Head Coach Jason Rejfek's first win as a head coach.
It was a relatively quiet opening fifteen minutes between the two teams who had not met since 2018. The lone scoring of the quarter was a Kaleb Barry 30-yard field goal with two minutes left that ended the 11 play, 64 yard drive.
The scoring picked up in the second quarter as the teams combined for 20 points. Eddie Clark found the end zone with a 17-yard touchdown run, in which he broke several tackles. That capped the eight play, 83 yard drive which spanned just under five minutes. After the Blue Tigers scored on a long run, Quincy Hall Jr. took the ensuing kickoff 87 yards to make it a 16-7 game, which would be the score at the halftime break.
On LU's first drive, they made it a two point game on an 86-yard run two and a half minutes into the second half. After forcing the Blue Tigers into a fourth and 10 from their own 8-yardline, the Bearcat defense forced the punter to run out of the back of the end zone for a safety to make it 18-14 in favor of McKendree. With four minutes left in the third quarter, Bearcat QB Ty Michael found Chase Wells in the corner of the end zone to extend the lead to 10. This would be Michael's first passing touchdown as a Bearcat.
In the final stanza, the teams would trade field goals. Caleb Fisher capped off the scoring with a two yard run to make it 34-19.
Stat Leaders
Ty Michael: 18 for 32, 257 yards, TD, INT
Eddie Clark: 26 carries, 77 yards, TD
Yogi Flager, Jr.: 9 catches, 147 yards
Nick Bova: 9 tackles, 1.5 TFLs/6 yards
Tyus Jackson 5 tackles, 0.5 TFL/yard
