Mid States

[Football] St. Ambrose wins 17-10 at No. 18 Saint Xavier

Declan McDonald accounted for two touchdowns and St. Ambrose let its defense do the rest as the Bees knocked off No. 18 Saint Xavier 17-10 in Chicago Saturday afternoon.The Bees completely bottled up the nationally-ranked Cougars, allowing just 117 yards of total offense. That included just five rushing yards on 37 carries, an average of 0.1 yards per attempt.St. Ambrose forced three turnovers, including a pair of interceptions in the second half. Late in the third quarter, Jaxson Nelson picked off a pass at the SAU 27-yard line to help preserve a 10-3 lead. Then with the same score in the fourth, Brody Mason intercepted a pass at the Cougar 40-yard line. McDonald and the offense capitalized, marching 40 yards, with McDonald finding Blake Wittman on an 8-yard touchdown pass to open up a 17-3 with 8:20 to play.Saint Xavier (4-2, 2-1 MSFA) answered with its best drive of the afternoon. The Cougars picked up 71 of their 117 yards on the drive that concluded with a touchdown to pull within 17-10 with just under five minutes remaining.St. Ambrose (4-2, 3-1 MSFA) was forced to punt from its own 20, but Jackson Hunsicker's 44-yard effort put the Cougars back at their own 36. And as they had all game, the Bee defense took control. Saint Xavier lost three yards on three plays, and a bad snap on fourth down allowed Khalen Young to tackle the punter for an 8-yard loss. Taking over at the SXU 20-yard line with 2:09 left, SAU was able to gain two first downs, the last one coming on a face mask penalty on a third-and-goal play, to run out the clock.McDonald, the Bees' third quarterback of the game, completed 6-of-12 passes for 63 yards. John Benckendorf was a perfect 8-for-8 for 52 yards and Aaron Kussmann completed two passes for 10 yards.McDonald also rushed for 40 yards, which included a 6-yard touchdown run that gave St. Ambrose a 10-0 lead late in the first half.Brandon Baalman rushed for 34 yards, Garret Tiarks had 28 yards and T'Nahleg Hall finished with 26.Wittman caught five passes for 56 yards. Yemi Ward (4 receptions, 26 yards) and Sam Kerr (3 catches, 25 yards) also contributed.Tom Gillen started the scoring with a 20-yard field goal on the team's second possession of the game.Nelson and Ethan Miebach each recorded nine tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Zak Alberts and Liam Kelly were each credited with eight tackles. Bernard Buhake, Drew Ackman and Anthony Brown each had a sack among the Bees' 14 tackles for loss.Along with SAU's first win over a ranked opponent since a 49-27 win over No. 25 Dakota State in the 2018 season opener, the victory also tightened the MSFA Midwest League standings. No. 14 Olivet Nazarene is the lone conference unbeaten at 4-0 in league play. St. Ambrose is 3-1 and Saint Xavier is 2-1.The Bees will look for its fourth straight win next Saturday at St. Francis (Ill.).