Bluejays roll at the home of the Braves

Tabor defensive lineman DiMitri Bowie (1) rumbles toward the Ottawa end zone after scooping up a fumble at the Braves’ 7-yard line. With teammate Kevin Golden watching for defenders, Bowie completed the 93-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter of Tabor’s 41-0 road victory.Tabor College enjoyed a dominant win in its first road game of the season Saturday with a 41-10 showing at Ottawa University.

The Bluejays started slowly, giving up a field goal on Ottawa’s opening possession.

Tabor’s finally posted points on the scoreboard at the 2:43 mark of the first quarter when quarterback Curry Parham completed a six-play, 47-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge for the touchdown. Parham also contributed a 23-yard run earlier in the drive.

Tabor scored again early in the second quarter when DiMitri Bowie, a 6-foot-2, 265-pound defensive lineman, scooped up an Ottawa fumble around the Braves’ 7-yard line and rumbled the length of the field for the touchdown, chaperoned by three or four Bluejays.

The extra-point kick gave Tabor a 14-3 lead with 11:49 left in the first half.

Undaunted, Ottawa narrowed the lead to 14-10 on its next possession, driving 62 yards in 13 plays with the Braves’ quarterback scoring from two yards out with 7:07 remaining in the half.

It appeared the game could be a challenge for the Bluejays. But the complexion changed dramatically in the final 4 minutes of the half, when Tabor scored a pair of touchdowns—the first on a 2-yard run by Jason Logologo at the 4:01 mark, then on a 10-yard pass from Parham to Zach John­son in the end zone.

Johnson secured the pass as an Ottawa defender caught him in mid-flight and literally carried the Bluejay standout out of bounds.

Suddenly, Tabor was up, 27-10 with 1:02 left in the half. The big play of the drive was 32-yard deep ball completion to Skylar Valencia that put Tabor at the 10-yard line.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was that Ottawa didn’t mount a serious threat in the second half.

Instead, Tabor added two more scores. The first came on a 3-yard run by Parham to climax a 62-yard, 13-play drive, and was fueled by a 30-yard run by Johnson to the Ottawa 23. The final touchdown came on a 25-yard pick-six by Adrian Rodriguez with 4:08 left in the game.

“Defensively, I thought we played very well beside the fact that we gave up a couple of big plays,” coach Mike Gardner said. “And anytime you get two defensive scores, that’s always a positive thing,”

Gardner said Ottawa showed a different look on offense.

“They’ve had guys who can stretch the field and they’ve done a good job of recruiting that way,” he said. “Their team’s a little bit different. They still were effective running the football on us at times, and they did complete some passes when they had to.

“All in all it’s good for our kids to get a victory on the road and play a team that predominantly has been very competitive.”

Coming—With the win, Tabor improved to 2-1 for the season and 2-0 in KCAC play while Ottawa slipped to 1-3 and 1-1.

The Bluejays will host the University of Saint Mary next Saturday with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

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