STREAMWOOD, Ill. – The Missouri Baptist University Spartans looked unstoppable for the majority of the opening quarter on Saturday against Judson University. Unfortunately for them, it all came to screeching halt from there.  MBU was beaten by the Eagles 27-16 on a cold and windy day in the Chicago suburbs.

The day started with great promise for MBU. The Eagles began the first possession of the game at their own 25-yard line. The Spartan defense was stingy in holding them to just two yards on the first three plays of the game. On 4^th and eight from their own 27-yard line the Eagles punter was unable to handle the snap and MBU pounced at the 8-yard line. It took the Spartans offense only two plays to capitalize. Both plays were handoffs to freshman running back Lionel Banks, as he went into the endzone untouched from a yard out on his second carry of the game. The Spartans had a 7-0 lead with under three minutes elapsed.

To their credit, Judson regrouped and responded quickly. They orchestrated a 13-play, 75-yard drive taking over six and half minutes off the clock to tie the game at 7. The big play on that drive was a 51-yard completion from quarterback Christian Mille to tight end Keionta Fox that gave the Eagles the ball at the Spartans 36-yard line.

When the Spartans got the ball back, it was the Lionel Banks show again. On his fourth carry of the six-play drive, he found a hole up the middle then angled right and wouldn't stop until he found the end zone 36 yards later. The Spartans had the lead 14-7 with 2:18 remaining in the first quarter.

With two drives and two Banks touchdowns, it appeared that the Spartans were firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately for them, they blew a gasket. The offense would not score for the remainder of the afternoon. In fact, from that point forward MBU would be outscored 19-2, with those two points coming by way of an intentional safety taken by the Judson late in the fourth quarter.

The offense struggled mightily for the remaining three quarters of the game. The Spartans were three of 13 on third down conversions and one of six on fourth down conversions. MBU had two fourth quarter drives stall out at the Judson 11-yard line and 23-yard line, otherwise they might have climbed a little closer. On both drives they were unsuccessful on fourth down conversions.

Quarterback Cooper Brown played every snap this week and finished seven of 22 for 81 yards.  Banks carried the ball 12 times for 71 yards to go along with those two touchdowns. The leading receiver for MBU was tight end Shawn Wright Jr. who had a single catch for 29 yards. The Spartans had just 207 yards of total offense.

On an otherwise dismal afternoon of football, once again linebacker Blake Kight was a standout, finishing with 12 stops. Those tackles instill him as the program record-holder for tackles in a season with 102, breaking the old record of 96 which was set by Joey Morones in 2019. Kight still has one more game to play next week. 

Defensive end Rakweon Ramsey finished with six tackles, with three of them for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Giovanoi Sanes had nine stops with two and half coming for loss. Judson's standout running back Brandon Mackey finished with 137 yards and a touchdown.

The victory was the first conference win for Judson on the season as they are now 1-5 in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League and 2-7 overall. They are in their second year of fielding a football team. The Spartans drop to 3-7 on the season and 1-5 in the MSFA.

MBU will finish out the 2022 campaign next week with a trip to Davenport, Iowa to take on St Ambrose University. The Fighting Bees are a team the Spartans have beaten only once in seven tries, with that coming back in 2017. If the Spartans can secure the victory, they will match their all-time record for wins in a season with four, in this the ninth year of the program. Kickoff next Saturday is set for 1:00 p.m.