Tabor suffers loss to Wesleyan
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
First-year Bluejay Coach Robert Rubel stood with his arms crossed, staring straight ahead at the south end of Reimer Field.
He took one last look at the scoreboard before heading toward his team. The board showed something Saturday that it hasn't shown since the Bethany Swedes knocked off the Bluejays in double-overtime two years ago in Hillsboro — Tabor falling short.
The Swede upset also marked the final time a KCAC opponent had beaten Tabor both in conference play and on its home field.
This time, it was the 23rd-ranked Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes walking out of Hillsboro with a 21-17 win in one of the marquee match-ups in NAIA football.
Tabor can begin a new home game win streak at 7 p.m. Saturday against Southwest Assemblies of God.
Against, Kansas Wesleyan, Rubelhad a chance to see what his team was made of against Dave Dallas and the Coyotes. Tabor struggled to execute all night, but its inability couldn't have come at a more inopportune time, with the game on the line with under 5:00 left and trailing 21-17.
As a four-year starter at Tabor, anytime the Bluejays needed a big play, senior quarterback Ricky Ishida has always been one they could count on.
Two carries, the biggest a 27-yarder, for 36 yards from Ishida put the Coyote lead in jeopardy, setting up a first-and-goal at the KW 10.
Six more yards from Hector LaBoy and a two-yard run from Ishida had Tabor knocking on the door at the two before the Bluejays were hit with a pivotal illegal shift penalty.
Dallas took a huge gamble, declining the penalty to set up fourth-and-goal.
Rubel opted to keep the ball in the hands of his playmaker Ishida.
Ishida scrambled to the left on a naked bootleg, but was stopped short of the goal line by linebacker Scott Moore.
The Coyotes took over on downs and eventually ran out the clock.
"It's tough to play against KW the first game," Ishida said. "My hat goes off to them. They played a great game, they executed, we didn't, bottom line.
"I talked to Coach and I thought the naked boot would be there and I could get to the corner. Sometimes, the ball rolls the wrong way. We've got to put this loss behind us and move forward."
Ishida completed 10-of-19 for 161 yards and rushed for 42 more.
The new Tabor coach was resiliant in defeat, and predicted the same response from his team.
"We need to come to work Monday and start working to get better," said Rubel. "We had some tough plays and it hurt us a little bit, but we're going to rebound off those."
"I don't feel like we played to our potential yet. I think if we do play to our potential, we can do great things.
"The ability was there, we just didn't execute. We get that fixed, we're going to be really good."
