TROJANS FALL ON HOMECOMING, 42-17

Box Score

The Taylor University football team ran into an offensive juggernaut in 25th-ranked Malone University Saturday and fell to the Pioneers 42-17 on homecoming weekend in Upland.

Malone played the entire 60 minutes without a turnover, compared to Taylor's three turnovers in the game, which all came in the form of interceptions.

It didn't take the nation's fourth-ranked offense long to display their offensive aptitude, as the Pioneers drove 90 yards on 7 plays in the game's first series to take an early 7-0 lead.

On their first offensive possession, the Trojans ran three plays and out before giving the ball back to the Pioneers. The Taylor defense was stout on the next Malone possession, forcing a punt and had the ball on their own 32.

Five plays later, Taylor quarterback Shaun Addison threw his first of three interceptions to set up a 45-yard Malone scoring drive as the Pioneers went up 14-0.

In an effort to establish a running game, Taylor turned to running back Ian Sadon as the freshman ran the ball seven straight plays and racked up 41 yards to set up the first Taylor score of the day when Nick Davis nailed a 30-yard field goal.

From there, the Pioneers scored touchdowns on their next three possessions as Taylor threw two interceptions and punted once to close out the half trailing 35-3.

Following punts on their first two drives of the second half, Taylor surrendered a 5-play, 86 yard touchdown drive, giving the Pioneers a 42-3 lead.

On the ensuing possession, the Taylor offense proved resilient when Josh Cook sparked the team with a 55-yard scamper down to the Malone 9-yard line. After a Malone timeout, Addison found wideout Ryan Magnuson in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard scoring strike to give Taylor their first offensive touchdown of the afternoon.

Despite the lopsided score, the Taylor defense showed no quit as they held Malone scoreless on their final three possessions of the game.

In between those defensive stops, Taylor put seven more points on the scoreboard following their longest drive of the day. Sadon capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:37 remaining. It was the first career touchdown for the Parkville, Maryland native. Addison completed 4 of 5 passes for 42 yards on the drive to lead the Trojans down the field.

On the kickoff, Taylor recovered an on-side kick, but went three-and-out before punting the ball back to Malone with just over a minute to play. The Pioneers ran out the clock as the game ended with a 42-17 Malone victory.

"We ran into a team today that was executing very, very well," commented Taylor head coach Ron Korfmacher. "They have the complete package and simply took us out of our game plan early in the game."

"This team will be resilient, I'm sure. With the bye week coming up, we'll have a week of work and then a week of preparation for a very good Ohio Dominican team."

Cook, the nation's 12th leading rusher, racked up another 100-yard day with 117. Sadon finished the day with a new career-best of 85 yards. Addison was 11-for-26 with 99 yards and a touchdown. Leading all Taylor receivers was Trevor Terrell, who caught 3 balls for 29 yards.

On the defensive side, Ty Needler led all tacklers with 8.5 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss. Junior Reed Smith was all over the field, recording 7 tackles along with the Trojans' only sack of the day.

The Malone offense continued their strong offensive season, putting up 633 yards of offense, 420 of which came through the air.

Taylor (2-4) will have a bye next week and will then travel to No. 15 Ohio Dominican on October 25 at 12:30 p.m.