TABOR COLLEGE: Tabor footballers have best start ever
Tabor hammers Bethel 48-0
in Menno Bowl
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
So many weapons, so many ways the Bluejays can burn an opponent.
Saturday night's opponent, the Bethel Threshers would probably be one of the first to vouch for that.
They found out first hand just how loaded the Tabor arsenal is after the Bluejays dropped a 48-0 bomb on the Threshers in Newton in the famous "Menno Bowl."
Tyler Marsh was a freshman the last time he and his fellow junior teammates set foot onto Fischer Field in the Newton Athletic Park.
Tabor got chased out of Newton that night with the Threshers pounding the Bluejays 54-7.
The talk on the Bluejay sideline was about two things: payback and a shutout.
And the 5-11 185-pound junior, Marsh, played the leading role.
Tabor star wideout Tyson Ratzlaff was double- sometimes even triple-teamed the entire night.
Key in on Ratzlaff and Marsh can burn you. Shut down Marsh, then you got freshman Layne Frick to worry about.
All three torched the Threshers with Marsh lighting Bethel up for 246 yards worth of total offense.
His six catches for a career-high 186 yards and three touchdowns marks the fourth best performance by a receiver in Bluejay history.
Speaking of Bluejay history, the 48-0 destruction of the Threshers has Tabor off to its best start ever at 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the KCAC.
Despite the Bluejays' defense holding the Threshers to a paltry 126 yards of offense with a scant six coming in the air, Tabor coach Tim McCarty still denied that his team went the distance.
"I would still like to think that we haven't played a complete game yet," McCarty said. "I've been saying this from the get-go and I'm pleased with our defense's effort. They can run, they understand what they're doing and they play hard.
"Offensively, we have a lot of stuff in, but we're slowly trying to put the package together. We need to get better still though."
It'd be terrifying to see what a complete game against the Threshers could be like.
David Hernandez completed 12 out of 21 passes for 266 yards and five touchdowns, all going to the lethal trio of receivers.
Matched up against perhaps the best Thresher on the team in 6-7 310-pound behemoth tackle Doug Burford, Chad Duerksen still disrupted the Bethel offense.
Duerksen had help from Eli Kennedy and Keith Herl to wreak havoc in the Thresher backfield. Duerksen and Herl combined to drop the Thresher quarterback three times.
Bethel's nightmare began on its first drive when Tracy Wehrman picked off a pass in Tabor territory.
That was on one of two Thresher drives that actually made it past midfield.
Marsh took over the game with 6:51 left in the first quarter on a 5-yard hookup with Hernandez.
Not even 2:00 later, Tabor's lead stretched to 9-0 when Tony Starr got nailed in the Thresher end zone for a safety.
Oh the penalties.
Thirteen against the Threshers for 160 yards left them backed up clear to Main Street.
Tabor got hit with seven for 85 and for a good portion of the first quarter, there was rarely a play run where the referees kept the flags in their pockets.
By the end of the first half, Bethel had just 87 yards of offense and 103 in infractions.
The Bluejays kept the steamroller moving in the second quarter with Hernandez connecting two touchdowns, one a 61-yard bullet to Marsh that increased the lead to 16-0.
Something big happened every time Marsh touched the ball.
Facing a fourth-and-10 just past midfield, Marsh took off on a fake punt for a 37-yard gain which gave the Bluejays first-and-goal at the five.
Hernandez hit Ratzlaff on the ensuing play to send Tabor into halftime with a commanding 26-0 lead from 205 yards of offense.
Frick made his presence felt :06 into the second half with a 5-yard catch from Hernandez.
Bethel didn't need any more of Marsh.
Marsh made perhaps his most dazzling play of the game on his final touchdown.
Catching a 39-yard pass from Hernandez, Marsh dove into the end zone to cap off his stunning performance and give the Bluejays a 40-0 lead.
The Bluejays got a progressive game on the ground, pounding out 158 yards from 38 carries.
Filling in for the injured Cameron Conant, Olando Harris wasn't a hundred percent.
Even at 80 percent, Harris was still too much for the Threshers.
He put the icing on the cake for Tabor's scoring, zipping around the left side for a 17-yard touchdown.
Tabor went for two, with Frick making a scintillating catch from a tipped ball.
"Our focus wasn't to beat their brains in," McCarty said about his team's mauling of the Threshers. "Our focus was on ourselves. We're totally consumed with ultimate execution and that is the only thing we're concerned about. It's good to see that we're getting better."
The Bluejays should find out what they're made of this Saturday when they host the defending KCAC champion Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes for the homecoming game.
Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Reimer Field.
