Bethel football falls to Ottawa in 28-24 stunner
The Threshers move to 2-1 in non-divisional play.
On Saturday, the Thresher football team took on Ottawa, looking to continue their undefeated streak in non-divisional play. Bethel eventually fell to the Braves 28-24 after a few unforced errors.
The first half seemed to be all Thresher offense when they went into halftime with a 17-7 lead and no looks of turning back. Throughout the first 30 minutes, junior DJ Ciers and junior Scott Grider had both scored a rushing touchdown while sophomore Carson Sauseda had kicked both point-after-attempts and made a field goal.
The Braves made their comeback known in the third quarter where they scored two rushing touchdowns to bring them ahead 21-17.
Senior Mario Quintero caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Ciers to bring Bethel back ahead.
With just over two minutes left on the clock, the Threshers stopped Ottawa and just needed to get a first down as the Braves were out of timeouts, but the Ottawa defense had other plans in mind as they forced a three-and-out.
When the Threshers went to punt the ball away, there was a bad snap causing sophomore Jackson Walker to get taken down at the Bethel 41-yard line and Ottawa took over from there.
“A lot went right for us throughout the night, it just wasn’t enough for us to come away with the win,” head coach A.B. Stokes said.
The Braves scored on a third-down rush to seal the 28-24 win.
“When I knew and felt that the game was over I mostly felt bad for the players and other coaches,” Stokes said. “A lot of work goes into winning a football game and falling short hurts.”
Grider led the way with 119 rushing yards and Ciers close behind with 105 on the night. Junior Tate Seabolt led the defense with nine tackles with senior Kade Miller having eight as well.
This loss brings the Threshers to 2-1 in non-divisional play and took them out of the NAIA top 25 for the first time since Nov. 4, 2019. Bethel was ranked 23rd before this week.
The Threshers will travel to Kansas City, Mo. on Saturday to take on the Avila Eagles with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.