Tabor wins fifth-straight game
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Through the years, the Bethany Swedes have had their way with the Bluejays.
The last time Tabor toppled the Swedes, it was in a downpour three years ago in Hillsboro, arguably one of the biggest upsets in both teams' history.
On a gusty Saturday afternoon at Lindsborg's rain-soaked Anderson Field, the Bluejays put a beating on the Swedes that they've grown accustomed to receiving from the Swedes.
The Bluejays chewed up 513 yards of offense, the second most in school history, on their way to crushing Bethany, 41-12.
Not to mention defensively, Tabor held the once-powerful Swede offense to a sparse 187 yards.
"Considering the field conditions, it was good to be able to move the ball like that," Bluejay coach Tim McCarty said.
For the first time in school history, the Bluejays are 5-0 and in command of the KCAC's top spot, making a climb up the NAIA poll from 17th to 14th.
One knock against Tabor since the second week has been its struggle moving the ball on the ground.
On Saturday, the ground attack of Dwayne Cleaves and Cameron Conant helped Tabor steam-roll its way to a season-high 255 yards.
Conant carried the ball 21 times for a game-high 115 yards with Cleaves carrying 21 times for 108 yards.
Ricky Ishida, amidst carrying the ball eight times for 17 yards, completed 18 of 27 for 258 yards and five touchdowns, three going to Tyson Ratzlaff.
The game didn't start out too whippy for Tabor as Ishida fired a pass that ricocheted off Preston Neufeld and into the hands of the Swedes Mike Vernon on the Bluejays' opening drive.
But Bethany fumbled its drive away on second down, and CJ Hill recovered the loose ball.
The muddy field made the football hard to hang on to with Bethany fumbling four times, losing it twice while Tabor fumbled six times, losing once.
"It was good to see our defense get some turnovers," McCarty said. "We haven't had the ball bounce good for us there. We're still -2 on takeaways, and we're not happy about that."
The Bluejays stormed 52 yards to the Swede 20 only to turn the ball back over on downs.
Backed up at their own 21, third-string Swede quarterback Jarrett Higgs fired a pass right to Hill on second down.
Hill's first of two picks on the day set up Conant plowing into the end zone with 5:30 to go from five-out, setting the tone for a long afternoon for the Swedes, who trailed 7-0.
Of Ishida's 258 yards throwing, a season-game-high 196 went to Tyler Marsh, whose 12 catches set a school-record en route to giving him the fourth-highest yards receiving in a single game.
It was a 24-yard dart from Ishida to Marsh with 8:51 left in the half that pushed Tabor's lead to 14-0 after the Keenan Morris-PAT.
"They never really covered Tyler," said McCarty. "They were playing seven up front to stop the run and leaving four in back.
"The four back were worried about our deep stuff so we just went to Marsh underneath. Tyler had a great day."
Six minutes and 16 seconds later, Tabor's lead swelled to 21-0 at halftime after Ishida hit Ratzlaff for a 5-yard touchdown.
For a team struggling to run the football, 151 of Tabor's 297 first half yards came from its ground game on 34 carries.
The stingy Bluejay defense kept the Swede offense derailed all afternoon, surrendering 53 yards and four first downs through the first half.
Neufeld caught just one of 11 passes, but his sole catch with 4:06 left in the third quarter blew the game open for Tabor.
Facing a second-and-six at the Swede 11, Ishida hooked up with Neufeld, who bowled over two Swede defenders getting into the end zone.
With the Bluejays comfortably ahead 28-0, Higgs' 74-yard bomb to Brett Bailey late in the third quarter never put the Bluejay lead in jeopardy.
"We played good defensively," said McCarty, "but we're still struggling with the long ball."
The Bluejays answered 2:57 later with Ishida hitting Ratzlaff for a two-yard score.
Morris missed his only PAT of the game, but the Bluejays were firmly in command with a 34-6 lead.
Ratzlaff added his eighth touchdown of the season and third against the Swedes with 9:10 left in the game.
On third-and-13 at the Swede 21, Ishida fired a perfectly-thrown pass to Ratzlaff to cap off the Bluejay scoring onslaught.
A late fumble by the Bluejay back-up quarterback Ben Schmidt gave Bethany one last crack at the end zone from the Tabor-1.
But Bethany even struggled getting in against the Bluejays' reserve defense.
After going nowhere on three tries, Dominick Tatum finally plunged in from the one with 20 seconds left.
The Bluejays face off Saturday against the Friends Falcons in the homecoming game at 2 p.m. at Reimer Field.
Halftime festivities will include the retirement of Tabor folk-hero and former-Atlanta Falcon All-Pro Rolland (Bay) Lawrence's jersey.
