The Cardinals were able to celebrate a homecoming win on Saturday.

 
LIBERTY, Missouri - In a sports world where offense grabs many of the headlines, the William Jewell College defense was the story of the day in defeating Central Methodist 13-3 on Saturday.

In front of a huge homecoming crowd estimated to be at 2,500 by a reporter, the Cardinals shut down CMU’s spread offense for much of the game, limiting the Eagles to 191 yards total offense on the day. And while Jewell had 285 yards of offense, it was tough going inside the red zone for the Cardinals. Jewell started four drives inside CMU territory in the second quarter alone, yet could only manage a Warren Frevert field goal with 8:57 left to lead 3-0 at the half.

And even that field goal almost didn’t happen. The kick originally was missed wide left from 35 yards out, but a running into the kicker penalty against CMU gave Frevert a second chance, and the freshman was perfect from the spot five yards closer.

CMU’s offense, with a stiff wind at their back in the third quarter, did start to move; getting into the endzone, however, was a different matter. On a drive begun in the third quarter, CMU hit the tying field goal from 32 yards out against the wind in the fourth quarter with 12:34 left.

Defense came to the rescue again when junior Owen Hodges intercepted a pass with under seven minutes to play, resulting a Cardinal scoring drive capped off by Frevert’s second field goal of the day. This time he needed no help in nailing a 23 yard kick to give the Cardinals the lead at 6-3.

CMU had one more chance to get within field goal range against the wind, but a fourth down pass was incomplete and the Cardinals took over with a chance to run out the clock. Unfortunately, Jewell wasn’t able to pick up a much-needed first down, and went back to punt on fourth-and-inches from midfield with 10 seconds left in the game.

Senior punter Daniel Meegan’s high kick landed inside the five yard line where it was dropped by the CMU returner, rolling into the endzone where freshman Jack Bissonnette recovered the ball with three seconds remaining. The extra point made the final 13-3.

The Cardinals had only one turnover in the game, while Central Methodist had two. Unofficially, senior running back Jake Lynch ran for 90 yards and had another 32 yards receiving, while freshman quarterback Sean Shelton threw for 157 yards.

The Cardinals improve to 2-3 on the season and are on the road next week to take on Missouri Valley College.