Box Score

Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College defense pitched a second-half shutout, but the Yeomen offense sputtered for most of the afternoon, which allowed the visiting Kenyon College Lords to steal away a 21-14 win from the Yeomen on Homecoming Saturday at Savage Stadium.
 
Oberlin led 14-13 at the half, but a defensive score by the Lords late in the third quarter would prove to be only points of the second half. Ryan Rosen scooped up a fumble by Yeomen quarterback Lucas Poggiali at the 1-yardline and rolled into the end zone for the touchdown. Kolin Sullivan, who chased Poggiali backwards before stripping him of the football, created the play. It was one of eight sacks the Lords had in the game, 3.5 of which were by Sullivan.
 
Rain during pregame continued on-and-off throughout the game and caused problems for both teams on offense.  The Lords would eventually find a way to break through late in the first quarter when Brandon January capped off an 11-play, 65-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run.
 
The Yeomen would respond on their second drive of the second quarter to even the score at 7-7. A 31-yard catch-and-run by Justin Cruz on 3^rd -and-8 put the Yeomen in the red zone. Two plays later Blake Buckhannon ripped off a 12-yard run down to the 2-yardline to setup a TD run by Moses Richardson.
 
Later in the quarter a Yeomen turnover in their own territory put the Lords in business and eventually Casey Beaudouin would finish off their 7-play, 36-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run of his own. However, at this time the intensity of the rain began to pickup and likely factored in on the point-after attempt that was no good.
 
With the half winding down the Yeomen defense came up big as senior Zach Kisley forced January to fumble at the Lords own 28-yardline with 2:15 left on the clock.  On 3rd-and-17 Poggiali would again find Cruz, this time for 16 yards to setup a 4th-and-1 from the 19. Instead of electing to try a field goal in the tough weather conditions, the Yeomen turned to sophomore Nick Theofilos to pickup a hard-earned yard that took a strong second-effort.  Just one play later Poggiali would find Richardson wide open out of the backfield as he made the catch and took it into the end zone from 18-yards out. Erickson Andrews would make the PAT to make it a 14-13 game.
 
To start the third quarter the Yeomen had a promising drive short-circuited as they worked their way down to the Lords' 24-yardline, but Poggiali and Richardson had a mishandle on a handoff attempt with the end result being a Kenyon fumble recovery.
 
In the fourth quarter the Yeomen had one last chance. Following a missed 40-yard field goal attempt by Kenyon, the Yeomen took over at their own 23-yardline with 2:01 left to play and no timeouts. Back-to-back first-down completions to Gideon Reiz and Cruz got the Yeomen to the 50-yardline. However, Poggiali was sacked on second down and threw two incompletions on third and fourth down to effectively end the game.
 
Defensively, the Yeomen played an outstanding game. Seniors Kyle Kessler and Kirby Livingston each finished with a team-high 10 tackles. Livingston also had three tackles for a loss and a half sack. Kisley was also tremendous with a forced fumble, fumble recovery, a 20-yard interception return and seven total tackles.
 
Oberlin, which fell to 1-3 and 0-3 in the NCAC, will look to end its three-game skid next week when it travels west to take on DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.