ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Tabor College, ranked No. 16 this week, kept its hope for a conference championship alive Saturday afternoon at Reimer Field by downing the McPherson Bulldogs 30-14.
McPherson scored on its second possession on a 17 yard pass from Erik Johnson to Deke Belcher to grab a 7-0 lead.
But Tabor answered early in the second quarter when Roger Butler plowed into the end zone from four yards out to tie the score at 7.
Tabor took its first lead of the game with 7:24 to play in the first half when quarterback Ricky Ishida followed his massive offensive line into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to put Tabor on top to stay, 14-7.
The Bluejays added to their lead with 9:18 to play in the third quarter when Ted Telemaque rang the bell from 46 yards out to stake Tabor to a 21-7 advantage. Telemaque led all rushers in the game with 119 yards on 24 carries.
The Tabor defense put points on the board three minutes later when McPherson was pressured into an intentional grounding penalty in its own end zone resulting in a safety to make the score 23-7.
Tabor iced the game early in the fourth quarter when Ishida once again called his own number and scored from five yards out to put the Bluejays on top 30-7.
McPherson added a touchdown with 10:03 to play in the game, but Tabor played ball control offense for the remainder of the game to preserve its 30-14 win.
Ishida finished the day 16-for-24 passing for 161 yards while the Bluejay defense limited McPherson to just 203 yards total offense
With the win, Tabor improves its record to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in conference play while McPherson falls to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in KCAC play.
Tabor travels to North Newton next Saturday to battle the Threshers of Bethel College. Game time is set for 1:30.
