Yellow Jackets lose home battle with Taylor

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance Yellow Jackets lost their fifth straight game by a 42-10 score against the Taylor Trojans at Justin F. Coressel Stadium on Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets (2-5, 0-1) also dropped their first-ever countable conference game in the Mid-State Football Association. The Trojans (4-3, 1-0) snapped a short two-game slide in losses to ranked members of the MSFA Midwest League before playing DC.

The two sides played to a scoreless tie through the first quarter, which included a defensive stand in the red zone by DC's defense to get the ball back on downs after an opening-drive turnover by the offense. Defiance got on the board first with a Carson Marroquin field goal during the first minute of the second quarter, capping off a 17-play drive that started at the DC 3-yard line.

Taylor netted a pair of rushing touchdowns on their next two possessions and took a 14-3 lead into halftime. Despite a third ground touchdown halfway through the third, the contest was far from decided near the end of the third quarter.

The tide shifted when the Yellow Jackets were pinned deep in their own end and Taylor's Grady Stanley picked off DC quarterback Jehlani Warren and returned the ball eight yards for a touchdown. Backup DC quarterback Jordan Southall threw another interception on the following drive that Taylor turned into a touchdown just five plays later. The last two touchdowns by the Trojans were home run plays: a 40-yard run by quarterback Alex Amburgy and a 49-yard score by Ethan Albert.

Defiance went on to tack on a late touchdown drive with Southall engineering the offense. Working with a short field, Defiance marched 49 yards on nine plays and ended on a 6-yard pass to Mar'Kel Wade for his third touchdown in the last two games.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Defiance was out-gained 224 to 440 on offense. Taylor, which sports one of the best run offenses in the MSFA, racked up 337 yards on the ground but did not produce a 100-yard player in any phase of the game.
• Carson Marroquin continues a solid first season pulling double-duty as punter and kicker. Making his only two attempts in the game, his is now 5-for-6 on field goals and 18-for-21 in PATs. He also punted four times for an average of 34.3
• With a battered running back room, the Yellow Jackets leaned on freshman Trent Barraza and junior Tevin Lewis-Johnson. Barraza led the Jackets with 16 carries for 89 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. His longest run was 17 yards and had three carries for more than 10 yards. Lewis-Johnson got the start and had 13 carries for 36 yards, including a long of 12 yards.
• The Yellow Jacket return game had an impressive day as well, totalling 103 yards on five kick returns. Kamari Juarez had long returns of 26 and 28 yards while Marshawn Taylor had the team's longest for 33 yards.
• Defensively, Damon McCracken and Dominic Harris led the way with eight tackles. Harris shared a sack with Kyle Szczyt to record is 16th career sack and is now tied for 10th in a career in DC's football history.
• Cameron Smith logged the team's lone takeaway of the game when he intercepted a pass for a touchback on the final play of the first half.

UP NEXT
Defiance is back on the road next week to play Indiana Wesleyan. Kickoff at Wildcat Football Stadium in Marian, Ind. is scheduled for 4 p.m.

-JACKETS-