TABOR COLLEGE: Fast start pushes 'Jays past Sterling
Tabor opens KCAC play with 32-20 win
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
For the second year in a row, the Bluejays' football team is off to a quick 2-0 start.
Even with another strong start though, Tabor has yet to have enough experience winning to figure out how to put the opponent down for the count, or for that matter, play a full 60 minutes.
Tabor's first KCAC game of the 2002 season had the potential to get ugly in Saturday night's game against the hosting Sterling Warriors.
After the first quarter, Tabor appeared to be on its way to a blowout, up 20-0, scoring on three of its first four possessions.
Sterling didn't fold, pulling to 26-20 to start the fourth quarter before one of two Tyson Ratzlaff touchdowns put the finishing touches on a 32-20 win for Tabor.
For 30 minutes, it would be hard to top the Bluejays' performance both offensively and defensively.
After a two-catch 19-yard performance last week against SW Assemblies, Ratzlaff had his usual big game, hauling in six catches for a game-high 125 yards with two touchdowns.
But it was the second and third quarters that gave Saturday night's win a bittersweet taste for the Bluejays.
"We had a really good start, then we played a little conservative," Bluejay coach Tim McCarty said. "We played good the first quarter, and we played good the fourth quarter. It was what was in between that I was a little concerned about."
For all but 4:00 of the game, Tabor's defense did its share of giving the Warriors fits, holding them to 123 yards rushing and 197 yards of passing.
The defense held Sterling to three-and-outs on seven of its first nine offensive drives while the offense raced to a 26-0 lead on a one-yard quarterback keeper from David Hernandez.
On two of the nine, Warrior quarterback Terry Harrison was picked off by Jason Phelps, who had three interceptions for the game.
Tabor is a good enough team to win on its own without any help.
Yet with the help of turnovers, two15-yard penalties, and poor punting, Sterling gave the Bluejays a huge boost.
Besides driving 57 yards on their first series, capped off by a 7-yard touchdown run from bruising back Cameron Conant, Tabor had a short field to work with.
Hernandez hit Ratzlaff for his first touchdown with a 43-yard dart on first-and-10, which put the Bluejays ahead 14-0.
The Bluejay quarterback stretched the lead to 20-0, scoring on a quarterback sneak from a yard away before Tabor's level of intensity dropped.
"We're pleased we're scoring points," McCarty said. "Our scoring average is high, but we still haven't played a complete game. There was no doubt we let down our intensity."
The second quarter proved that with Hernandez throwing a pick that set up a 19-yard touchdown run from Marcello Peters for Sterling's first touchdown.
"I don't know what happened," Hernandez said of the Bluejays' letdown. "We did fine the first quarter, then we came out in the second quarter and couldn't do anything.
"We couldn't move the ball, complete passes, and we had trouble running. Playing a complete game is probably our biggest challenge, but it's going to come eventually."
Up 26-7 with just over 1:00 left in the first half, Tabor punted to the Warriors' 37.
With :04 seconds left in the half, a four-yard touchdown pass from Harrison to Brandon Johnson erased Tabor's lead to 26-14.
Harrison struck again, finding John Tucker with 4:50 left in the third quarter to cut the Bluejay lead to 26-20.
The Warriors had two chances late at gaining the lead, but interceptions by Jeremy Loewen and another from Phelps kept Sterling from ever posing a threat.
"Our coaches were talking about what it takes to put teams away," McCarty said. "Even though we've had some big victories, it wasn't that we came out and put a team away. We haven't won enough to figure out to put a team away."
The Bluejays travel Saturday to Newton to face the big, physical Bethel Threshers, a team that concerns McCarty. Game time is 7.
Game time is 7 p.m.
