Southwestern Collegee dropped the Bluejays to 0-7 in conference play with a 26-20 win in Hillsboro Saturday.
The Moundbuilders got off to a fast start when Michael Coppock broke loose on a 50-yard touchdown run 1:16 into the game, making it 6-0 after a failed 2-point conversion run.
Tabor bounced back behind freshman quarterback Anthony Davis, who completed a 40-yard catch-and-run to Matthew Dean and a 10-yard score to Lance Stubbs.
In the second quarter, the Moundbuilders tallied twice on the arm of Jesse Lyons, who threw touchdowns of 16 yards and 6 yards to Ryan Molz.
Midway through the third quarter, Southwestern drove the ball down to the Tabor 2-yard mark? before losing the first of three fumbles to the Tabor defense. Unfortunately for the Jays, the offense ran two plays, lost yardage, and was tackled in the end zone for a safety. Tabor then punted the ball to Southwestern, and an angry Bluejay defense took the ball right back, setting up a 7-yard run by Davis that tied the score 20-20 with 7:56 to go.
The defense came up big again, forcing a punt with 4:01 remaining, but the offense was unable to pick up a first down in four plays, turning the ball over to the Moundbuilders at midfield with 2:58 to play. Southwestern ran a hurry-up offense the rest of the way, breaking through on a 31-yard flare pass–30 of which came out of Coppock sprinting down the sideline after the catch for the score–to make it 26-20 with 30 seconds to go.
With time running out, Davis completed a 12-yard pass to Jason Medellin before being sacked for a 9-yard loss and having his next pass picked off to end the game.
Southwestern ran for 224 yards and threw for 119, while Tabor threw for 258 and ran for 48. Each team committed 3 turnovers, and the Bluejays were unfortunate to only recover 3 of Southwestern's 7 fumbles.?
