#25 Lions use second-quarter burst to bury Jackets

--Defiance, Ohio—With a 7-2 lead and less than a minute-and-a-half to go in the first half, the Mt. St. Joseph Lions scored two quick touchdowns to go into the half up 21-2 and ran away with a 41-10 victory at Coressel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The two key Mount scores were the deciding factor in a game that saw the weather chance from rainy to windy, and the momentum change from a stalemate to a Lion locomotive that controlled the clock and field position throughout the second half.

DC was able to muster only 131 yards of total offense and 22:25 in time-of-possession, while the Mount accumulated 394 yards and over 37 minutes of ball control. The Mount had 19 first downs compared to seven for the Jackets and forced the Jackets to punt nine times, intercepted DC passes twice, and recovered one of the two Jacket fumbles. Defiance was 1-for-14 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down.

Like last week, the Jacket defense was impressive for a majority of the contest, stopping the Lions behind the line of scrimmage five times, but allowed a 52-yard Bryan Hamrock-to-Don Haggard touchdown pass in the first quarter, a Andy Wallendorf 49-yard touchdown reception from Hamrock in the second, and a 23-yard Hamrock strike to Wallendorf in the third period.

Darin Lomason, again led DC in rushing with 56 yards on 17 carries. Quarterback Nate Fitton was 4-for-16 through the air for 58 yards and the two interceptions. Aaron Schmidt caught two passes for 18 yards. Kris Zajac led the DC defense with 10 tackles, including one for-loss and two passes defended, while Steven Brancheau had nine stops and one tackle-for-loss.

DC punter Blake Stambaugh averaged 41.1 yards on his nine punts and put one boot inside the 20-yard line.

DC falls to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in the HCAC. The Mount should improve their national ranking with the win and are still undefeated at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the HCAC.