ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Tabor College battled its way past a stubborn Sterling College Saturday night in Hillsboro with a 25-9 win over the winless Warriors.
TC quarterback Ricky Ishida scored from one yard out with 4:06 to play in the first quarter to give the Bluejays a 6-0 lead.
Sterling answered with a 27 yard field goal with 1:52 to play in the half and Tabor took a slim 6-3 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Bluejays Caleb Mason caused and recovered a Warrior fumble just three minutes into the second half and Roger Butler scored from 26 yards out to push the Tabor lead to 13-3.
Tabor added another touchdown on an Ishida three-yard run with 6:36 to play in the third quarter as the Bluejays stretched their advantage to 19-3.
The Warriors managed to string together a 10-play, 68 yard drive in the fourth quarter and scored on a three yard run with 3:15 to play in the game to cut the Bluejay lead to 19-9.
But Tabor controlled the ball the rest of the way until Ted Telamaque scored from three yards out with just 17 seconds remaining to give TC the final 25-9 victory.
Tabor had 386 total yards of offense as Roger Butler had his second straight 100 yard rushing game with 103 yards on 19 carries.
Ishida was 23-of-32 passing for 237 yards while throwing two interceptions.
With the win, Tabor improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the KCAC while Sterling fell to 0-3 and 0-2.
Tabor travels to Salina next Saturday night to battle the Coyotes of Kansas Wesleyan with game time set for 7:00.
Tabor defeats Sterling College 25-9
