by The Saint Mary football team fell to McPherson 24-9 on Saturday. The Spires have now dropped two consecutive games after winning the previous two. They now sit with a 2-3 conference record and a 2-5 record overall.
It was a defensive game through the first half as the teams would trade field goals and enter the locker room tied at 3-3. Tim Mitchell would connect on a 37 yard field goal for the Spires to open the scoring with 8:14 left in the first quarter.
McPherson would tie the game with a field goal of their own in the second quarter.
McPherson opened the second half with a 73 yard drive on four plays that ended with a touchdown. The extra point would be good to make the score 10-3. The Spires would respond with an impressive drive all the way to the McPherson 23 yard line, but Mitchell’s field goal try would be no good. Saint Mary would find the end zone before the close of the third quarter however. Josh Ervin found Alex Gomes-Coelho for a 37 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good and McPherson still held the lead 10-9.
McPherson would score two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to push the score to 24-9. The Spires would be unable to match them as they would turn the ball over twice in the fourth quarter.
Will Ryan led Saint Mary in rushing for the game with 18 rushes and 75 yards. Ervin launched 34 passes and completed 20 of them for 238 yards. He had one touchdown and two interceptions. The Spires had two receivers with over 100 yards in the game. Gomes-Coelho finished with nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. Billy Owens had seven catches for 108 yards.
Kenny Nez (Walker River Pauite Tribe) continued to play well on defense for Saint Mary. He led the team with 10 tackles and had one tackle for a loss.He also forced a fumble. Blade Wise-Perry had nine tackles and Rudy Estrada finished with eight. Sisco Garcia and Dwain Taylor each had five tackles. Ryan Lopez finished with four tackles and recovered a fumble.
This week, Saint Mary will turn their attention towards Sterling. The Spires will head back on the road for the second straight week to take on the Warriors at 1:30pm on Saturday.
