CHICAGO — No. 6-ranked Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) football team’s season ended on Saturday with a 30-17 loss to host and third-ranked Saint Xavier (Ill.) in the Football Championship Series Quarterfinals at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
A pair of Lindsey Wilson (10-3) turnovers deep inside Saint Xavier territory halted potential scoring drives and ultimately cost the Blue Raiders a chance at the upset.
A Lindsey Wilson fumble on the Saint Xavier 1-yard line and a tipped interception on the Cougar 19-yard line kept the Blue Raiders out of the end zone in the first half. Saint Xavier capitalized on one of the Blue Raider turnovers to lead 21-3 at the half.
Saint Xavier (10-2) extended its lead to 27-3 with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter when Cougar quarterback John Rhode — the game’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player — found Randall Wells up the right sideline for a 56-yard touchdown. Rhode finished the game 22-of-28 for 298 yards and four touchdowns.
Despite staring at its biggest deficit of the season, Lindsey Wilson fought back with back-to-back touchdowns.
Following a wind-blown pop kick and a Saint Xavier penalty, Lindsey Wilson took over at the Cougar 35-yard line. The Blue Raiders needed just four plays and 64 seconds to march the 35 yards for their first touchdown of the day.
Branden Cresap hit Chaz Barnes for the 24-yard score and the senior duo connected again for a two-point conversion to trim the deficit to 27-11 with a minute remaining in the third quarter.
Lindsey Wilson’s Kyle Durbin gave the ball back to the Blue Raiders early in the fourth quarter with his first interception of the season.
The Blue Raiders turned the pick into six points following a 13-play, 70-yard drive.
Cresap went 5-for-9 for 35 yards through the air and Josh Haney and Dakota Brown combined for 30 rushing yards to trim the score to 27-17 with 8:56 left in regulation. Cresap capped the drive with a five-yard touchdown toss — his 34th of the season and 106th for his career — to Emilio Gonzalez. The two-point attempt failed
Saint Xavier regained the momentum on its next drive. The Cougars drove 75 yards on 11 plays and more importantly took nearly six minutes off the clock.
The critical play of the drive came on a fake punt from the Cougar 13-yard line as Marco Scalzetti took the direct snap on fourth and six and scampered 22 yards for the first down.
Abdul Mahdi closed the drive with a 33-yard field goal to give Saint Xavier a 30-17 lead.
Lindsey Wilson’s last gasp ended with its third turnover of the game as Dan Fitzgerald intercepted Dylan Beasley — who took a backward pass from Cresap and tried to connect with Tavis Elzy down the sideline — with 3:03 left in the game. Fitzgerald was named the game’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
Saint Xavier closed out its 38th win in its last 40 home games with a first down four plays later.
The Cougars out-gained the Blue Raiders 532-399 for the game.
Haney finished the game with 113 total yards — 90 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards. Barnes caught seven passes for 75 yards — both team highs. Barnes concludes his career with 2,070 receiving yards — the second Blue Raider with over 2,000 receiving yards — and 19 touchdowns.
Defensively, Austin Howell led the Blue Raiders with 11 tackles and an interception.
Saint Xavier (10-2) moves on to the FCS Semifinals next Saturday and will host Southern Oregon who upset top-ranked Carroll (Mont.) today 45-42.
Lindsey Wilson closes the 2014 season with the program’s first-ever Mid-South East Division title and first FCS appearance. The 10 wins are a single-season program record.
