Football team falls to MWC newcomers

The Lawrence Football team traveled to St. Paul, Minn. this past weekend to take on the Scots of Macalester College. This is Macalester’s first year in the Midwest Conference (MWC) North Division. The newcomers came into the game with a 2-0 record in conference and a 6-1 record overall. Meanwhile, the Vikings were looking to improve on their 1-1 conference record and their 2-4 overall record.

The Scots took control on their first possession. On the second play of the game, Macalester quarterback Samson Bialostok broke off a 57-yard run for a touchdown to give the Scots an early 7-0 lead. Two plays after forcing the Vikings offense to a three and out, Samson threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to receiver Garrett Eichhorn.

The Scots continued their dominance in the first quarter by scoring a field goal, recording a safety and registering another long touchdown to give them a 26-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Macalester defense took it from there. They held the Vikings to 238 yards of total offense, including just 26 rushing yards. The Vikings had a few opportunities to score, but could not get on the board.

The Vikings turned it over on downs in the second quarter after driving down to the Macalester 21 yard line. The Vikings had another chance in the third quarter when they drove down to the one-yard line. However, the Macalester defense came up with the goal line stand and forced another turnover-on-downs. The Scots ended up winning by a final score of 33-0.

Notable performers for the Vikings included freshman receiver Cole Erickson, who caught six passes totaling 111 yards, and senior defensive back Dan Taylor, who led the team with 15 total tackles.

“We started off slow and didn’t execute at the start,” said sophomore cornerback Nick Ulloa. “We adjusted and played better in the second half, but still need to work on finishing drives. We’re going to learn from it and focus on our next game.”

The Vikings will look to snap their current two-game losing streak when they return home this week for their last home game of the season and take on St. Norbert College.

“We’ve been looking forward to this game. We are excited since it is our last home game with the senior class and it will be under the lights. It is a rivalry game and we want to make our seniors’ last home game one to remember,” finished Ulloa.