ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Tabor College defeated McPherson 26-7 Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.
Tim Jones caught a 32-yard touchdown from quarterback Ricky Ishida in the first quarter to give Tabor a 7-0 lead.
Ishida found Tyson Ratzlaff over the middle with just 1:31 to play in the half for a 62-yard touchdown to make the advantage 13-0 going into the halfime locker room.
McPherson inched closer after a Bluejay fumble gave the Bulldogs possession at the Tabor 15 yard line, and scored on a 10-yard pass with 12:31 to play in the third quarter.
Ishida called his own number with 5:32 to play in the third and scored on a 3-yard quarterback keeper to push the Tabor lead up to 19-7.
Jeff MacKinnon rounded out the Bluejay scoring when he grabbed a 50-yard pass from Tyler Marsh on a fake punt with 2:59 to play in the third quarter to give Tabor their final 26-7 margin of victory.
McPherson entered the game averaging 30 points per game, but the Bluejay defense held the Bulldogs to just seven points and 254 total yards for the game.
With the victory, Tabor finished the regular season portion of their schedule with a 9-1 record, and 8-1 in the KCAC, good for second place.
Tabor will now await word on whether or not they’ll be invited to play in the NAIA national playoffs next weekend.
Tabor defeats McPherson 26-7
