Bluejays grind out win over Friends
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The Bluejays' game plan Saturday was simple — shut down visiting Friends Falcons' standout tailback Aron Howell.
Leading the KCAC in rushing with a 218 yards per game average, Howell's a threat every time he touches the ball.
The Tabor defense kept the jitterbug in control, holding him to 55 yards on 28 carries.
The Falcon trio of Howell, Eric Hansen, and wideout Garrett Labus boosted by four Bluejay turnovers and their inability to put an opponent down for the count, almost ruined Tabor's homecoming.
In a game featuring the KCAC's two best offenses, along with the top passer, the Bluejays (5-0, 4-0 KCAC) did enough to withstand a Falcon (2-2, 2-2 KCAC) surge and hang on for a 26-22 win.
"We've got more lives than a cat," Bluejay coach Mike Gardner said. "The thing we're going to focus on this week is finishing. We're going to finish practice, we're going to finish every rep, and we're going to finish in drills.
"Hopefully, that's going to carry over and we'll be able to finish out a ball game."
Bluejay quarterback Ricky Ishida got it done both in the air and on the ground, airing it out for two touchdowns and 244 yards while keeping the ball for a score.
On the Bluejays' three scoring drives, 139 of Ishida's yards came on 9-for-10.
The Falcons wasted little time unleashing Howell, but not before Hansen took off for a 38-yard run to set Friends up at the Bluejay 21.
Hansen was the real problem, carrying the ball 10 times for a game-high 83 yards to spark 261 coming on the ground.
Four plays later, Howell slipped in from the right side to give the Falcons an early 7-0 lead after the PAT.
Making it crystal clear why he's the leader of the KCAC's top offense, Ishida capped off a three-play 71-yard drive, going deep for Jeff MacKinnon for a 36-yard touchdown.
MacKinnon caught five passes for a game-high 91 yards.
Not even a minute after the Howell TD, Brian Kimsey's PAT had the game knotted at 7-7 with 10:56 left in the first quarter.
Ted Telemaque was the only Tabor running back to make it in the end zone as the Bluejays rolled up 152 yards on the ground paced by Roger Butler's 77 yards.
Telemaque's 10-yard run for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:42 still left in the first frame gave the Bluejays the lead for good.
The Bluejay lead grew to 20-7 after Ishida scored on a one-yard keeper with 2:16 left in the first half.
One of the easiest ways Tabor could finish plays has gone together as well as gas and fire — converting on the PATs.
That was nothing new as the kick failed, leaving Tabor with a 20-7 lead.
The Falcons were right back in the game by halftime, cutting the lead to 20-14 after Howell struck again, this time from 12 out.
But Friends had a whale of a time hanging onto the football, fumbling four times, three coming in Howell's hands to spot Tabor 20 points.
With the Falcons inside the red zone at the Tabor 19 later in the third quarter, Bluejay linebacker Jake Schenk drilled Howell, forcing a fumble.
The fumble proved costly with Ishida engineering a nine-play 85-yard drive which ended on a 13-yard dart to Layne Frick with 2:33 left in the third quarter.
Tabor went for two, but Ishida's pass for Ben Brown was incomplete.
The 26-14 Tabor lead was still too flimsy, especially with a high powered offense like Friends.
With time ticking away in the game, Falcon quarterback Chris Randolph completed a 30-yard pass to set up first and goal at the seven.
Randolph finished the game 11-for-20 for 165 yards while getting sacked twice.
Three plays later on fourth down Howell's one-yard score cut the Tabor lead back to 26-20 and chewed up 5:57 on the clock.
Randolph hit Cole Hauser for the two-point conversion to make for the 26-22 final.
"The problem was we couldn't get off the field on third and long," Gardner said of the Falcons getting back in the game. "All in all, we'll take the win. We just needed to finish and defensively, we had a couple of breakdowns."
With 6:23 left, Ishida hit MacKinnon for 17- and 14-yard completions to keep the clock moving and allow the Bluejays to run it out.
The Bluejays travel Saturday to Ottawa for a 1:30 p.m. showdown with the team that ruined Tabor's undefeated season a year ago.
The Braves are 1-3 in the KCAC and 1-4 overall, but have the tools to scare Gardner.
"They've got the best special teams group in the league right now," he said. "They've got an unbelievable punt and kick return man. Their offense is really clicking and defensively, they're very tough.
"They're quick, they fly to the football, and their secondary is really good."
