by Emily Kesel
The Westminster College football team fell behind early to Greenville College on Saturday and couldn't find enough offensive spark to overcome, falling by a final score of 42-14. The loss, which came on the Blue Jays' final home game of the season, dropped the team's overall record to 5-4, with a record of 5-3 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC).
The Panthers rushed the ball all the way down the field on their first drive of the game to score the game's first touchdown. They failed to convert on the point-after attempt, but soon after scored a safety on a botched punt attempt by the Blue Jays. Greenville would score another touchdown in the first quarter before Westminster found the end zone. A fumble recovery by senior Brett Carrigan put the Blue Jays on the Greenville 27-yard line, and on the next play, senior Joe Plassmeyer found junior Austin Kempker for the touchdown. Junior Kevin Ludwig added the extra point to make the score 14-7, where it would remain until the end of the quarter.
Greenville put up another touchdown in each of the next two quarters to make it 28-7 before the Blue Jays came back with their second touchdown of the game on a 14-yard pass from Plassmeyer to senior Tony Mitchell. Ludwig's PAT was converted again to bring the score to 28-14.
The Blue Jays had a rough fourth quarter with four three-and-outs offensively and conceding two more touchdowns on defense. The Senior Day game ended with a score of 42-14.
Statistically, the Blue Jay rushing attack was led by freshman Latif Adams and junior Jantzen Bradford, who each netted 17 yards. On the receiving end, Mitchell led in catches with six, followed by Kempker with four. Both were surpassed in terms of yards gained by senior Christian Moulton, who caught one pass from junior Kenny Miller for 60 yards. Plassmeyer led the Blue Jays in passing with 131 yards on 17 completions and two touchdowns. Junior CJ Vaughan led Westminster in all-purpose yards with 84, most of those on kick returns. Ludwig's 10 punts went for an average of 33.7 yards and a total of 337 yards.
On the defense, junior Bret Robertson led the tackling effort with eight solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Seniors Levi Powers, Kyle Bryant, and Steven Scott added six solo tackles each. Carrigan contributed five solo tackles, five assisted tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery.
The Blue Jay's final regular season game will take place on Nov. 8 in New Ulm, Minn. against Martin Luther.