A tough battle in the late fourth quarter led the Ichabods to come up short for their season opener against the Lindenwood Lions.

Both teams started off scoreless in the first half, with two blocked field goal attempts by Peter Pfannenstiel and Cody Heiman.

The blocks gave the Ichabods momentum going into the half. Which led to an eight play, 65 yards drive on the opening drive with an 18 yard connection TD from junior quarterback, Derek McGinnis, to senior receiver, Jordan Hart.

“The score stayed 0-0 at half, so I knew our defense was holding it down, we just had to calm down with our newer offense, and come out and find our identity,” said Hart.

“The drive was something we really need to get a spark going and just showing people we do have offensive weapons! Really,  I just trusted the QB to see I was open on my TD and he put me in a good position to do what I do.”

With two minutes left in the third quarter, the Lions managed to score a 17 yard touchdown run from junior quarterback, Jessie Scroggins, who recently transferred from University of Arizona.

With 11:22 left in the final quarter, the lions stole the lead with a 45 yard pick six (interception) to the house by junior defensive back, Bakari Triggs, giving the lions 13-7 lead after an missed extra point attempt.

The Ichabods would continue to contribute to the scoreboard by scoring on a five play 71 yard drive.

McGinnis hit senior full back, Sam Eickhoff, for a five yard touchdown pass giving the Ichabods and 14-13 fourth quarter advantage.

As the clock continued to tick to the last twenty-three seconds, the Lions scored on the final drive throwing a seven yard touchdown pass to end the game, 20-14.

“We really wanted to get off to a good start, which we struggled to do in the first half, but in the second galf we managed to get the offense going. We plan on getting the offense started early in this upcoming game, allowing us to hit them hard early!” said wide receivers coach,  Josh Osborn.

The Ichabods will play Nebraska Kearney on Thursday Sept. 11 at Yager Stadium at 7p.m. for their second consecutive night game.

The Ichabods will be looking to regain confidence by knocking off Kearny, who they defeated 10-7 at Yager stadium last season.

The Ichabods have defeated Kearny for four consecutive seasons.