Kenyon College Athletics

GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Lords dominated nearly every facet of Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference football game at McBride Field. In the end, however, the scoreboard outweighed the statistics and the visiting Battling Bishops from Ohio Wesleyan University used two big plays and two Kenyon turnovers to escape with a 23-20 overtime victory.

Kenyon (2-4, 2-3 NCAC) racked up 356 yards of offense and possessed the ball for nearly 39 minutes of the 60-minute regulation. Ohio Wesleyan had 264 yards of total offense, but more than half of that total came on two pass plays. Trailing 7-0, Ohio Wesleyan quarterback Cheyne Lacanaria connected with Ian Williams on a first-quarter 70-yard touchdown pass. Then, trailing 20-13 in the fourth quarter, the same two hooked up for a 64-yard pass that led to a one-yard touchdown run from Jesse Beachy. That score came at the 6:59 mark of the final frame, eventually forcing overtime.

Those two plays aside, the Kenyon defense held Ohio Wesleyan to 33 rushing yards and 97 passing yards. The Lords forced three turnovers, registered five quarterback sacks, and held the Battling Bishops to just one third-down conversion in 14 attempts.

Despite those numbers, Ohio Wesleyan (2-3, 2-2 NCAC) managed to survive regulation and pull out the win in the second overtime session. The Battling Bishops offense took the first crack in the overtime, but ended up missing a 35-yard field goal when the holder couldn't handle the snap.

Kenyon then ran three plays on its first overtime possession, but only moved the ball seven yards. That set up a 35-yard field goal attempt, but Szabi Simo's kick squirted to the left, forcing a second overtime round. This time, Kenyon went first. The Lords got a great catch-and-run from Ian Bell on a third-and-16 play and then used freshman running back Rob Meagher to pound the ball inside the one-yard line. Quarterback Jake Bates was stuffed on a first-down sneak and then Sam Appel, running out of the wildcat formation, fumbled the ball away, ending Kenyon's possession.

Ohio Wesleyan didn't do much in the way of moving the ball on its second overtime possession. In fact, after three plays the Battling Bishops were facing a fourth-and-11. Tim Shadoan then bailed out the offense by booting in the game-winning 43-yard field goal.

Back in the first quarter, the Kenyon offense was moving along and scored the game's first touchdown on four-play, 42-yard drive that ended with Bates lofting a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Greg McIntosh.

In the second quarter Simo nailed field goals of 47 and 26 yards, while Shadoan answered with a 37-yarder and a 27-yarder to put the game at 13-13 going into halftime.

Kenyon came out of the break and designed two time-consuming drives. The first spanned 15 plays and covered 53 yards, but ended without points. The second was an 11-play drive that covered 66 yards and ended with a Meagher three-yard touchdown run.

For the game, Meagher piled up 143 rushing yards on 37 attempts. Bates finished with 160 passing yards, completing 15-of-28 attempts. Brian Hunca led the receiving corps with seven catches for 79 yards, while Ian Bell added 29 rushing yards and 59 receiving yards.

Beachy was the only back with positive rushing yards for Ohio Wesleyan. He had 49 yards on 12 carries. Williams wrapped up his game with three catches for 140 yards and Lacanaria ended up 18-of-35 for 231 yards.

The Kenyon defense, which deserved a much better outcome, was led by linebacker Mike Gibbons and defensive end Jamal Perkins. They both had eight tackles. One of those tackles was a sack for Perkins. Jacob LaPoint, a defensive lineman, added two sacks and Brandon Byrd, a corner, had seven tackles and an interception.

Things don't get any easier for Kenyon, which finds itself on the road next weekend at Wabash College, home of the No. 10-ranked Little Giants.