Tabor football team is getting better
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports Writer
After its second league loss in as many league games, the "very young, new" Tabor Bluejays travel to Lindsborg Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. game against the winning Swedes of Bethany.
Bethany (2-1) has won two straight and is a four-way tie for second place in the KCAC following its 21-14 overtime victory over Southwestern on Saturday.
While Bethany is rocking, Tabor is reeling from a 26-10 loss to Bethel at the annual "Menno Bowl" in North Newton.
A year ago, Tabor smashed Bethel, 60-16, in the Menno Bowl.
A year ago, Tabor was undefeated, racking up 500 yards a game, and was ranked near the top of the NAIA in nearly every category.
But the roster makes it clear that this is not the same Tabor team as last year.
Gone are the names of first-team NAIA All-Americans Roger Butler and Jake Schenk, and of unsung hero Ben Brown.
As much as the fans miss these players, its a safe bet that nobody in Hillsboro misses them more than the coach who never got to play them; first-year Tabor coach Robert Rubel.
"A lot of people think we have a lot of returning big time players," said Rubel. "Well, we don't. We are a very young, new football team."
For the first half against Bethel, the new team resembled the old one. The Bluejay defense kept the Threshers and star running back Beau Cox out of the end zone even though Bethel was twice inside the Tabor 10.
On offense, Tabor scored on its first series. Ricky Ishida threw a 80-yard touchdown to Aaron Jenkins, putting the Bluejays ahead 7-3 with nearly 8:00 left in the first quarter.
But that was that.
Tabor held a 10-6 lead at halftime after limiting Cox, the NAIA's leading rusher, to 65 yards in 10 tries.
But in the second half, the Bluejays couldn't stop him. Cox ran for 106 more yards, and two touchdowns.
The 20 unanswered points help give the Threshers (3-0), their first win over Tabor (1-2) since the Clinton presidency.
The loss knocked Tabor out of the NAIA top 25 for the first time in six years. And you'd have to go back to the Dan Thiessen era to find the last time the Bluejays have opened league play 0-2
In the hour of defeat, Rubel found reason to be optimistic.
"We're getting better every week," he said.
