The No. 3 Lindenwood football team won at least a share of the HAAC Championship and remains undefeated on the season after a 53-21 victory over Graceland on Saturday in Lamoni, Iowa.
The Lions put this game away early by scoring the first 33 points of the game.
Philip Staback threw three first quarter touchdowns to
Rudy Fleming,
Roren Thomas, and
Matt Bramow to put Lindenwood on top 19-0 after the first quarter. Denodus O'Bryant and Thomas then scored rushing touchdowns for a 33-0 lead. Graceland managed a touchdown late in the half as the Lions led 33-7 at halftime.
In the second half, O'Bryant scored again for the Lions in what would be the only points of the third quarter. Graceland put two touchdown drives together early in the fourth quarter before Lindenwood struck two more times on rushing touchdowns by
Brett Ballmann and
Richard Murrell.
Lindenwood had nearly 600 yards of offense, with 206 on the ground and 386 over the air. Graceland was held under 300 yards and had three turnovers.
Staback finished the game with 352 yards passing and three touchdowns. Thomas and O'Bryant both made an impact rushing and receiving. Thomas finished with 108 receiving yards and 37 rushing yards, while O'Bryant had 80 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards. Fleming finished the game with four receptions for 110 yards.
Defensively,
Damian James had an interception for the Lions and a fumble recovery, and
Kellen Dreyer recorded a sack.
Chris Howard led the team with 10tackles.
Lindenwood ends its regular season next week with a home game at 1:30 p.m. against William Jewell.
Game Notes: Lindenwood improves to 9-0 overall and in the HAAC, while Graceland falls to 3-6 overall and in the HAAC … the Lions won their third HAAC Championship, all coming in the last six years under head coach
Patrick Ross … Lindenwood won its 18th straight HAAC game … Lindenwood defeated Graceland for the sixth straight time and now has an 11-3 advantage in the all-time series … the Lions can wrap up its second perfect regular season in school history next week against William Jewell.
