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Football Battles Injuries in Loss to Concordia
Posted: Sep 15, 2019

Football Battles Injuries in Loss to Concordia

Box Score

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Tigers once again showed that they are on the cusp of greatness as they battled the sixth-ranked Cardinals of Concordia University Ann Arbor. The game saw a defensive struggle, that combined with injuries on both sides of the ball, led to a game that was not decided until the fourth quarter with Concordia walking away with a 22-14 victory.

The Tigers looked as though they were going to run away with the game when they scored on a 3 play, 35-yard drive on their first position. The Tigers took only 52 seconds to complete this drive that was finished when Jared Honey (SO/Cumming, Ga.) put the ball in the end zone from one yard out. ONU looked as though they had an even greater opportunity to hand Concordia an upset when on the ensuing kickoff, Omar Sinclair muffed the kick into the endzone, looked to return the ball, was stripped, and Anthony Portillo (JR/El Cajon, Calif.) gathered the ball for the Tiger's second score in a matter of seconds.

From this point both teams' defenses took over. Concordia's defense was aided by the fact that senior quarterback, Jordan Lawton (SR/Lakewood, Calif.), was injured as he was running out-of-bounds in the first quarter. This injury led to Lawton being lost for the game, forcing freshmen quarterbacks David Hutton (FR/Brookfield, Wis.) and Joel Brawley (SO/Stevensville, Mich.) into action. In addition to Lawton's injury, pre-season All-American tackle, James Officer IV (SR/Indianapolis, Ind.), was also lost to injury in the first half.

With Lawton out, the pressure was put on the Tigers' offensive line to provide running room for second-year running back Jayvion Daniels (SO/Lima, Ohio) and to provide additional time for Brawley. Daniels wound up carrying the ball 25 times for 67 yards as the bulk of the offensive workload was placed on Daniels and the running game. Brawley contributed to the running game by adding 13 carries for 46 yards.

While the offense struggled to find a rhythm with two important pieces of their system out, the defense stepped up and played another tough game. The defense held Concordia to 250 total yards of offense and limited the team to just two scores. The Cardinals added their third score off of a fourth-quarter fumble that was returned for a touchdown by Cardinal linebacker Reggie Thompson.

Jalon Simpson (JR/Portland, Mich.) had another great game as he contributed nine total tackles and had a fumble recovery. Jason Freeman (SO/Zion, Ill.) added seven tackles of his own, including a sack. These two helped lead the Tigers defensive run game that held Concordia to 118 rushing yards on 37 carries. The defensive secondary also had another good game as they limited the Cardinals to 132 yards passing on 11 of 28 attempts.

GAME VITALS

Score: Olivet Nazarene - 14 | Concordia Ann Arbor - 22

Records: Olivet Nazarene 0-2 | Concordia Ann Arbor – 2-0

NAIA Rankings: Olivet Nazarene – RV | Concordia Ann Arbor - Six

Location: Ward Field | Bourbonnais, Ill.

STAT TRACKER

WHAT'S NEXT

Olivet will return to Ward Field on Saturday, Sept. 21 as they take on new Mid-States Football Association MidEast member, Lawrence Technological University at 1:00 PM.