Mid States
[Football] St. Ambrose loses to No. 25 Olivet Nazarene
After a strong opening drive, St. Ambrose struggled to get anything going in a 40-10 loss to No. 25 Olivet Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Brady Street Stadium.The Bees managed just 199 yards of total offense, with much of that coming after the game had already been decided.And it all started so promising. SAU took the opening kickoff and marched 64 yards and had a first-and-goal from the ONU 5-yard line. But three straight runs produced just a single yard and the Bees settled for a 20-yard Tom Gillen field goal (video below, courtesy SAUtv).From there, the Bees picked up just 31 yards of offense the rest of the half, covering five additional drives.Olivet Nazarene (4-0, 2-0 MSFA) took advantage of some short St. Ambrose punts and punched in touchdowns on three straight possessions bridging the first and second quarters. Griffin Zajac gave the Bees some momentum, intercepting a pass inside the SAU 30-yard line on the final play of the first half (video below, courtesy SAUtv).But a Tiger interception on the Bees' first possession of the second half led to another ONU touchdown and a 28-3 lead. Olivet tacked on a touchdown and a pair of field goals for a 40-3 lead. Declan McDonald threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Blake Wittman with under four minutes left in the game to account for the final score (video below courtesy SAUtv, call by Logen Howell of KALA radio).SAU picked up 101 of its 199 yards in the final quarter.The Bees did accumulate 136 yards on the ground with six different players each picking up at least 10 yards. Brandon Baalman led the way with 41 yards on eight carries. T'Nahleg Hall rushed for 28 yards and starting quarterback Aaron Kussmann rushed for 22 yards. Trent Nunn (18), Garret Tiarks (17) and Yemi Ward (11) also helped the rushing attack.Kussmann completed just one pass for two yards, and was hurt by several drops. McDonald finished 6-of-11 for 61 yards and the lone touchdown.Wittman had two catches totaling 19 yards, while Sam Kerr, J.D. Villafuerte, Tyler Martyn, Tom Macari and Tiarks each had one reception.The SAU defense allowed 387 yards of offense, with three Tiger quarterbacks combining to throw for 248 yards.Jaxson Nelson had a team-high 11 tackles while Zak Alberts had eight stops. Ethan Miebach and Liam Kelly were each in on seven tackles. Drew Ackman recovered a fumble in the loss.The Bees, 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the MSFA Midwest League, will visit Trinity International next Saturday.