No. 3 Morningside falls in gritty battle with No. 4 Ravens

ATCHISON, Kan. — The Morningside University football team opened the season Saturday with a 38-34 hard-fought loss against Benedictine College on the road.

Morningside trailed 17-14 at halftime, with both of its scores coming in the first quarter. Drew Sellon hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zack Chevalier at the 10-minute, 24-second mark, and Jaylen Burch later put the Mustangs ahead with a 20-yard rushing score with 3:40 left in the quarter.

The Mustangs scored twice within the first 5 minutes of the third quarter. First, Chevalier threw a screen pass to Max Hough, and his teammates gave him 49 yards worth of room to run to the end zone to gain the lead again.

Following a quick answer from the Ravens, Chevalier found Sellon again, this time from 17 yards away with 10:49 remaining in the third quarter.

The final scoring play from Morningside came with 6:49 left in the fourth quarter, as Chevalier ran it in from the Benedictine 6-yard line that gave Morningside a 34-31 lead.

Benedictine scored the game winner with 12 seconds remaining in the game.

Morningside produced more offense than the Ravens, 549-418. Most of that came in the air, as Chevalier was 26-for-40 passing for 356 yards. His longest pass on the day was the 49-yard screen pass to Hough.

Sellon was Chevalier's most popular target, as he caught seven passes for 124 yards.

Hough was the leading rusher, taking the ball 18 times for 104 yards. Burch attained 72 yards on six carries.

Defensively, linebacker Cade Harriman had a team-high 12.0 total tackles, six of them being solo. Landry Phipps had 6.0, while all five of Malik Hampton's tackles were solo.

Defensive end Cale Pittenger had 2.5 tackles for loss for 15 yards, while also being credited for two sacks.

The Mustangs had 8.0 total tackles for loss for 29 yards. Phipps and Jack Brickhouse each had 1.5 TFL.

Morningside stays on the road next week — albeit in Sioux City — with a 1 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 6 at Briar Cliff.