Fulton, Mo 11/12/2022- The Westminster College football team hosted Crown College in the last game of the season on a cold, windy day in Fulton. Before the game, senior day festivities were held as Westminster honored their seven senior football players, Justin Scales (St. Louis, Mo. / Trinity Catholic), Dylan Clapsaddle (St. Peters, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt South), Rothman Harris (Farmington, MO / Farmington), Robert Anthony (Herrin, IL / Herrin), Demetrius O'Neal (St. Louis, MO / McCluer North), Joshua Johnson (St. Louis, Mo. / McCluer North) and Ethan Talleur (St. Clair, MO/ St. Clair). The seniors would make big plays throughout the game as they tried to end their collegiate careers with a victory.
Things did not look good early as the Polars would score early in the first quarter to take a 6-0. They would go for a two-point conversion and fail to convert it. The Blue Jay offense would get the ball back with 1:45 left in the first quarter from their 46-yard line as Crown went for a squib kick on the kickoff. Peyton Byerly (Mountain Grove, MO / Cabool) would find Chandler Taylor (Kickapoo, MO / Kickapoo) on an out route for a 12-yard gain. Byerly would find freshman tight end Kelton Virtue (Camdenton, MO / Camdenton) on the next play for a 13-yard gain and the Blue Jays looked to have something going as the first quarter came to an end.
The Blue Jays started the second quarter in excellent field position with the ball just outside the red zone. Byerly would find Virtue wide open in the middle of the field at the 10-yard line and he would run in for what seemed to be the game-tying touchdown. Unfortunately, there was a holding call on the play negating the touchdown by the Jays. The penalty would push the offense back to the 39-yard line. A couple of plays later Byerly found Virtue for another deep pass completion for 22 yards but the Blue Jays Eli Shaw (Mesquite, Texas. / Poteet) was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to negate the big play and put Westminster at the 31-yard line. A few plays later, the Blue Jays caught a break as the Polars were called for pass interference on a pass attempt to Taylor, getting them into the red zone at the 13-yard line. Lavell Whitaker (Kansas City, KS / Raytown South) got handed the ball and he would be downed after a 7-yard gain with the ball at the 6-yard line. The Jays would get called for a false start for the fourth flag of the drive. Jordan Kern (St. Louis, MO / Parkway North) would get the ball on back-to-back plays and pound the ball to the 4-yard line. Kern would get the ball one more time and would fumble the ball as he entered the endzone and the ball was recovered by Taylor for what appeared to be the second Blue Jay touchdown on this drive. Again, there would be a flag on the play that went against the Blue Jays as they were called for a chop block. With a penalty once again nullifying a Blue Jay touchdown, the Jays faced a 4th and 16 with the ball at the 19-yard line. Byerly would find Virtue for a 15-yard competition, unfortunately, they needed to get 16 yards for a first down. So, after scoring what would have been two touchdowns on the drive, penalties killed the drive as Westminster turned the ball over on downs with 10:26 left to play in the first half.
Crown and Westminster would both punt on their next drives. After the Blue Jays punted the ball back to Crown, they would take over on their own 12-yard line with 7:42 left in the half. The Polars would get the ball near midfield, they would attempt a pass play. Senior cornerback Robert Anthony would jump the route and intercept the ball for a pick-six. Or so it appeared, the Blue Jays were called for a block in the back nullifying yet another touchdown, the third one of the game. Still, the Blue Jays would take over with great field position with the ball at the Crown 39-yard line with 4:24 left in the half and a chance to tie the game before halftime. The offense would be unable to get anything going, turning the ball over on downs with a minute left in the first half.
The Polars ran their one-minute offense and got the ball down to the Blue Jay 23-yard line as time was running down and looked like they might score again before the break. Senior defensive end Justin Scales would not allow that to happen as he met the Crown quarterback in the backfield for a big 8-yard sack, forcing a turnover on downs in the process. The Jays would take a knee and headed to the locker room trailing 6-0.
The Polars received the ball to start the second half and they would march the ball down the field, eventually scoring on a 14-yard touchdown run, taking a 14-0 lead. The Blue Jays would be forced to punt on the ensuing drive. On the punt return, Crown would fumble the ball and it would be recovered by freshman Colton Sheehan (Jefferson City, MO / Capital City). There were multiple flags on the play and after some long conversations with the referees and the coaches, the Blue Jays got the ball back and would start their drive from their 29-yard line.
After getting the ball just past midfield, Byerly would mishandle the handoff and put the ball on the ground, it would be recovered by Crown at the 50-yard line. The Blue Jay defense would stand tall and force a turnover on downs. Westminster would get the ball back with 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter. They would run a play and the third quarter would come to an end with Crown leading 14-0.
Early in the 4th quarter, the Blue Jays would find themselves with a 4th and 3 to go. They would line up in punt formation, Shelby Pittsenbarger (Warrensburg, MO / Warrensburg) would take the snap, and instead of punting the ball took off running for an 18-yard gain and giving the Jays a new set of downs. On the next play, Byerly found freshman wide receiver Aden Campbell (Slater, MO / Slater) for a huge 27-yard completion, he would be downed at the Crown 8-yard line. Byerly then hit his big wide-out Taylor for an 8-yard touchdown pass and after scanning the field, it appeared there were no flags on the play and the Blue Jays got on the board for the first time. They would go for two on a fake extra point attempt, Pittsenbarger was the holder and he rolled out with the ball to the right side and tossed the ball up to Virtue and he would be unable to make the catch. The reason for that was that there was a pass interference call on the play. Westminster would get another chance at the two-point conversion. The Jays came out in the jumbo package with senior lineman Ethan Talleur coming in as a second fullback and Kern lining up as running back behind him. Kern would get handed the ball and run the ball into the endzone up the right side to convert the two-point conversion. Westminster would still trail 14-8.
Crown would fumble the ball on the first play of the drive after the Blue Jay touchdown. Kylan Carter (Memphis, TN / Mitchell) would stripe the Polar running back and he would come out of the scrum with the ball!
The Blue Jays' offense takes over again at the Crown 30-yard line with 12:42 left in the game. After two passes fell incomplete, the Jays faced a 3rd and 10 and Byerly would throw a strike to Elijah Teal (Memphis, TN / Whitehaven) in the middle of the field. He would make a few defenders miss and take the ball to the house for a 30-yard touchdown pass. The Blue Jays would miss the extra point attempt and just like that the game was tied 14-14.
Disaster would strike on the ensuing kickoff as the Polars would return the kickoff 76 for a touchdown and put them back on top 20-14.
The Westminster offense took over with 11:23 to play and the ball on their 42-yard line, trailing 20-14. Kern would rush for a one-yard gain on first down. It was 2nd and 9 and Byerly threw the ball to wide-open Clappsaddle for a 32-yard gain, and he would be eventually brought down at the 10-yard line. After a false start penalty and an incomplete pass, it would be 2nd and 15. The ball was snapped to Byerly, he stood in the pocket and threw a back shoulder pass to Taylor on a fade route, he would haul it in for his second touchdown of the game. The Jays would be called for a delay game penalty, backing them up to the 10-yard line. Blue Jay head coach John Welty would call time out and talk things over on what would be the biggest play of the season thus far. Byerly would take the snap and roll out to the right and throw the ball up to his big tight end Virtue and he would come down with the ball and put the Jays on top 22-20!
The Blue Jays would try an onside kick and there would be a scrum for the ball and it looked like the Jays had recovered the ball. It was ruled that the Polars did in fact recover the football. The Crown offense would take over near midfield with 8:43 left in the game. Crown would have pass completions of 17 yards, 6 yards, and 10 yards to put the ball on the Blue Jay 4-yard line. The Polars would punch the ball into the endzone on a 1-yard touchdown run and regain the lead 26-22.
The Jays got the ball back after a short kickoff at their 42-yard line. After a short pass to Campbell for 4 yards. Byerly would throw an interception with 3:34 left to play. The Polars would take over on the Blue Jays' 20-yard line. They looked to run as much time off the clock as they could. The Blue Jays' defense would stuff their rush attempts and force them into a 3rd down and 10. On the 3rd down play, the Polar quarterback would attempt a pump fake but the ball would pop out of his hands. Talleur would make a diving play to catch the ball for an interception, Talleur normally an offensive lineman was in the game playing on the defensive line and made one of the plays of the game, giving Westminster life with 2:29 left in the game.
Westminster would start their final drive of the season at their 26-yard line. They would get the ball to midfield when a pass attempt would ricochet off Clapsaddles' hands and would be intercepted by the Crown secondary. They would take a knee to end the game and walk away with a 26-22 victory.
Byerly was 15-28 and threw for 210 with 3 touchdowns. Kern had 14 rush attempts for 48 yards. Virtue had 3 catches for 50 yards, Campbell had 5 catches for 48 yards and Taylor had 4 catches for 46 yards and 3 touchdowns.
On the defensive end, Garrett Burger (California, MO / California R-1) had 11 tackles, Pittsenbarger had 7 tackles. Scales had 6 tackles and a sack. Carter had a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and an interception in the game. And offensive lineman Talleur, playing defensive line, would also make an interception.
The Blue Jays end the season with a record of 1-8 on the year and 1-5 in the UMAC.
