Leavenworth, Kan.- The University of Saint Mary Football team hosted Bethel College for their home opener on Saturday, resulting in a 45-22 loss. The Spires are now 0-2 on the year and 0-2 in conference play. 

Each team held strong on defense to open that game, with both opening drives getting stalled for Bethel and Saint Mary. The Threshers opened the scoring on their second drive, taking three minutes off the clock and settling for a field goal. Saint Mary stalled on the ensuing drive, but after another defensive stop, the Spires tied the game with a 41-yard field goal from Josh Bingham. Bethel opened the second quarter with a six-play 60-yard drive to take a 10-3 lead over Saint Mary. The Spire offense began to slow down after the Thresher's first touchdown and could not get any more points on the board before halftime, while Bethel scored two more touchdowns to make the score 24-3. 

Saint Mary came out of the break receiving the kickoff and drove 67 yards in nine plays. Quarterback Erick Covington hit Davien Norman on fourth and five for an 18-yard touchdown pass. After the missed PAT, the Spires were down 24-9. Bethel scored their fourth touchdown of the night on the next drive to extend their lead to 31-3. Both teams traded touchdowns to open the last quarter of play. The Spire's second touchdown came from another Covington pass that hit Michael Gazzana for a six-yard touchdown to cut the Threshers lead to 23. Saint Mary scored their third and final touchdown as time wound down in the fourth quarter with another Covington to Gazzana connection, this time for 48 yards, making the final score 45-22. Covington threw for 170 yards on the night, the second-most passing yards in a single game in his career. Hunter Hendricks and Adian Arnold led the Spires on defense with ten tackles. 

Up Next

The Spires will hit the road to take on McPherson College at 6 p.m. on Saturday in McPherson, Kansas.