Lions’ quick start leads to homecoming loss for Yellow Jackets

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Mount St. Joseph Lions went 4-for-4 on touchdown drives in the first quarter before building a 42-point lead at halftime to damper Defiance College's homecoming and beat the Yellow Jackets, 62-21.

The Lions' (4-1, 2-0 HCAC) nationally-ranked offense posted their third 60-point performance of the season thanks to 474 yards of offense and four turnovers by the Yellow Jackets (2-3, 1-1 HCAC).

The tide turned quickly against Defiance after winning the toss and taking the football to start the game. On the first play from scrimmage, MSJ recovered a fumbled exchange between quarterback Jordan Ambrose and receiver Tawann Rome at the Defiance 20-yard line. Six quick plays later, Lions quarterback Josh Taylor threw his first of four touchdown passes on the afternoon on a shovel pass around the right side to tight end Gary Powell III, which converted a fourth-and-goal.

On the next possession, Defiance looked to get the ground game going with Tyshaun Freeman and Ambrose but faced a fourth-and-one at their own 34 and decided to roll the dice with a QB keeper. Ambrose was stuffed for no gain to turn the ball over on downs. One minute later, the Lions added their second score when Mariano McKenzie ran four times before a three-yard scamper off the left edge to extend the lead to 14-0.

For the rest of the first half, Defiance's offensive drives ended with a punt, consecutive interceptions, a second turnover on downs and another punt. Meanwhile for MSJ, Taylor, the HCAC's leading passer in yards and touchdowns through the season's first four weeks, connected on touchdowns with Joey Newton from 15 yards, 20 yards and four yards with a rushing score of eight yards mixed in to round out the first-half scoring. Taylor did not play after halftime while Tyler Prather, Kendrick Riley and Jaxon Schreiber got in work as the signal caller for the Lions.

Defiance also made a quarterback change after DC's fourth turnover came on their first drive of the third quarter, a fumble by Ambrose scrambling from pressure. Jehlani Warren and a combination of second-teamers were able to find some success against many of the Lions' second unit with touchdowns on three of their last four possessions. Defiance's first score was late in the third quarter trailing 56-0 after a pair of rushes by Warren paired with MSJ penalties had the Jackets at first-and-goal at the 10. DC razzle-dazzled the Lions to break up the shutout with a handoff to Khart Hurt running right was reversed to receiver Dazzmon Garrett. The receiver did the rest of the work on the play by zig-zagging through five defenders and barreled into the end zone to put the Jackets on the board. In the middle of the fourth, Hurt gashed MSJ's defense with rushes of 21 and 28 and finished the job with a two-yard score with 3:35 left in the game. Garrett and Hurt's touchdowns were each the first of their college careers at DC.

The Jackets turned their last possession into points as well thanks to a short field. Facing a punt attempt by Mount St. Joseph, a high snap was bobbled by the punter Joe Claire and recovered by Defiance's Damarion Leblanc at MSJ's 24. Warren legged out a rush of 18 yards for Defiance followed by eight more by Christopher Young to set up an eight-yard score by Warren to finish the scoring for the day.

Offensively, was held to 265 yards and just 25 through the air. Ambrose went 5-for-13 for 16 yards and two picks while Warren threw five times for nine yards on two completions. Warren led Defiance with 70 yards on the ground followed by Hurt with 69. Freeman ended the day with 59 yards in the ground game and just 10 yards shy of 2,000 for his career. Mount St. Joseph's Taylor passed for just 104 yards on four touchdowns on 13-for-21 passing. Devin Holt was their leading rusher with 85 yards as four different Lions carried the football for scores.

Top defenders for Defiance were Coty Johnson II with a game-high 13 tackles followed by Thomas Coltrain with 10. Dominic Harris also notched 1.5 sacks with five tackles and a forced fumble.

The Yellow Jackets look to bounce back and stay in the HCAC hunt at home next Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff against the Franklin Grizzlies.

-JACKETS-