MT. BERRY, Ga. - The Rhodes College football team suffered its first loss of the 2015 season, dropping a 24-0 contest to Berry College on Saturday afternoon in front of a raucous crowd at Valhalla Stadium.
The Lynx held Berry to only 249 yards of total offense and caused a turnover; however, Rhodes' struggles came on the offensive end as they were only able to muster 187 yards of total offense and turned the ball over four times.
After a pair of three and outs, the Lynx put together an impressive nine play drive, moving into Vikings territory. After being stopped on 3rd-and-1, the Lynx elected to go for it on 4th down. However, the Berry defense stood strong and hit
Roc Sherrell for a loss to force the turnover on downs.
Berry proceeded to put together an 11-play drive, moving 73 yards and finding the endzone for the early 7-0 lead on a two yard rushing touchdown by Jalen Tuggle.
Moving into the second quarter, the Rhodes offense continue to struggle despite the defense holding the Viking offense in check.
After a turnover on the Lynx offense, Berry moved it down the field again, going 50 yards in eight plays and ending the drive with a 17 yard touchdown pass from Dale Jackson to Trey Ciresi to put the Vikings up 14-0.
After a three and out from the Lynx, the defense made a huge play as
Matt Ellis picked off a Jackson pass, giving the Lynx great field position around midfield.
However, Rhodes would turn it back over to Berry on an interception, giving the Vikings a 14-0 lead going into the break.
After a three and out forced by the Lynx defense, Rhodes put together a great job, going 57 yards in 15 plays and moving inside the five, taking up almost eight minutes of play in the third quarter. Senior
Jonathan Wiener took the bulk of the carries in the backfield to move the Lynx down the field.
However, faced with a 4th-and-goal from the three, Rhodes elected to go for it to try and cut the deficit in half. However, the Lynx would fail on the fourth down conversion and turn it back over to the Vikings.
The turnover seemed to deflate the Rhodes offense going into the fourth quarter as the Vikings tacked 10 more points on the board and earn their second victory of the year in only their second game at Valhalla.
Austin Henyon finished the day 4-for-9 with 66 yards while
Sam Yarborough was 6-for-10 for 58 yards. Sherrell carried the load for 45 yards while Wiener and
PJ Settles each added 30 yards rushing. Wiener also led all receivers with 45 yards on four catches.
Defensively,
Elliott Tostrud finished witha team leading 12 tackles while
Michael Shield followed with 10 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Christian Labenberg added to his SAA-leading sack total with two on the day to go with eight tackles and a forced fumble.
Wyatt McRae had seven tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss.
Rhodes falls to 2-1 on the year and 0-1 in Southern Athletic Association play while Berry improves to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in SAA play.
The Lynx will go into their bye week and look to bounce back on October 3rd as they return to Crain Field and welcome in in-state rival Sewanee. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. as Rhodes will celebrate Parents Weekend.
