The Rhodes College Football team caught a flight to Winchester, Virginia this week to take on a tough non-conference opponent in the Shenandoah University Hornets. Following an impressive victory last week at Austin College, the Lynx looked to cap off their road trip with another victory, but the Hornets proved to be a formidable foe.

The game got off to a slow start with a scoreless 1st quarter, but that would soon change as sophomore quarterback Taylor Haas led the Lynx offense on a beautiful 89-yard drive which resulted in a 15 touchdown pass to his tight end Clayton Gehman. The Rhodes defense immediately followed the scoring drive with a quick three-and-out, capping off the drive with a partially blocked punt. This gave the Lynx great field position inside the 35-yard line, but they were unable to capitalize as Taylor Haas' pass fell incomplete on an attempted fourth down conversion.

With just under 3:00 to go in the first half, the Hornets were able to march down the field and score on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Steven Hugney. This tied the game at 7, and the Lynx got the ball back with 2:43 to go in the half.

Lynx quarterback Evan Reeder took the field to lead the 2-minute drill. Wielding both his arm and legs, Reeder marched the offense into Hornet territory with 1:21 remaining. After both teams exchanged penalties, the Rhodes offense was faced with a 3rd and 15, but Evan Reeder was not phased as he delivered a strike over the middle to Trey Hampton to keep the drive alive. Shortly thereafter, Reeder would look to his Senior receiver Alex Leblanc who reeled in an 18-yard touchdown to cap off an efficient 2-minute drive and give the Lynx a 14-7 lead heading into halftime.

Rhodes College would get the ball to begin the second half of play but were unable to extend their lead on the first drive. This opened the door for the Hornets to erase the deficit, and they would do just that after a near-perfect drive from Hornet quarterback Steven Hugney who handed to Jalen Redfearn for an 8-yard touchdown, tying the game at 14 a piece.

The Lynx offense would then be led back out by Taylor Haas who, with the help of his running back Robert Daniel, orchestrated an electric drive but was unable to come away with points after a missed field goal try. That would take the game to the 4th quarter and give possession back to Shenandoah. The Hornet passing attack was potent all game and quarterback Steven Hugney would toss his second touchdown pass of the contest giving Shenandoah their first lead with 12:15 to go in the final quarter. After the Lynx turned the ball over on the subsequent drive, Shenandoah capitalized on the short field and put the ball in the end zone once more to extend their lead to 28-14. Rhodes would get the ball back with just 7:28 to go and needed a 14-point comeback. The offense could not get anything going, and Shenandoah was able to add another score thanks to the third touchdown pass of the game from Steven Hugney to extend the Hornet's lead to 35-14 with 2:44 to play.

A valiant effort from Evan Reeder and the Rhodes offense resulted in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Reeder to Alex Leblanc, cutting the deficit down to 35-21. However, the final score for the Hornets would prove to be the nail in the coffin, and the Lynx would take their second loss of the season on the road at Shenandoah by a score of 35-21. Taylor Haas finished the game 15-23 passing with 189 yards and a touchdown, while Evan Reeder threw for 92 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Lynx leading receiver was John Hampton III who brought in 8 receptions for 136 yards, which would be his second consecutive game with over 135 receiving yards. Linebackers Iman Lohrasbi and Cole Shaver led the defense in tackles with 5 each. They also each assisted a tackle for loss.

The Lynx will head into their bye week with a record of 1-2 as they look forward to kicking off conference play at home against Hendrix College (2-1, 1-0) the following week. That game is set to kick off at 6:00 pm on October 5th at Crain Field and you can catch coverage of it on the Lynx Live Network .