The Trinity Bible College Lions hosted their first Monday Night Football game under the bright lights in Ellendale this past Monday. They welcomed Cole College to town and both teams were looking for their first win on the young season. The game would turn out to be as exciting as the weather, with thunder storms rolling in during the first quarter.

Neither team would find the endzone in the first quarter as the rain was what dominated the opening quarter. The Lions would score first in the second quarter on a Kalen Coats (Gordon, NE) 26 yard touchdown run. The touchdown run capped off a 6 play 58 yard drive which took 2 minutes off the clock. The Lions defense would then force a safety on the next possession for Cole College as the center snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head and rolled out of the back of the endzone. The safety would give TBC the 9 to 0 lead with 10:28 left in the first half. With the momentum going their way the Lions would need only 2 plays on their next drive to score on a 5 yard touchdown pass from Austin Morris (Duval, FL) to Barry Bighorn (Culbertson, MT), Christian Troxler (West Memphis, AR) would add the extra point kick and Trinity Bible College Lions would hold a 16 to 0 lead over the Cole College Jaguars with just over nine minutes left in the first half.  The Cole College Jaguars would answer Trinity’s touchdown by takings the ensuing kick off back 90 yards for their first touchdown of the game and would add the two point conversion trimming the Lions lead to 16 to 8.

The fireworks would continue in the second quarter with the Lions scoring on another touchdown pass from Austin Morris to Barry Bighorn. This time it was 38 yard pass and catch finishing off a 5 play 50 yard drive. The lead was now 23 to 8 TBC. However it would be Cole College’s turn as they would need only one play again to score, this time a 63 yard touchdown pass from Andrew Maynard to Steven Mamuzich.  The Lions would finish off the exciting second quarter on an interception by linebacker Seth Peterson (Dazey, ND), he would return the interception 40 yards for a defensive touchdown as time would expire in the half, giving the Lions the momentum going in to halftime with a 29 to 16 lead. Cole College would cut the Lions lead to just 5 points after a 75 yard touchdown pass from Alexi Campoverd to D’Rand Jackson taking only 11 seconds. Both teams would then trade possessions and trade interceptions as Cole College would throw two interceptions in the third quarter as would Trinity Bible College. The Lions would finally use a 9 play 56 yard drive taking 4 minutes and 43 seconds scoring on a 2 yard run by Kalen Coats (his second TD run of the day).  The Lions would then hold a 35 to 24 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter. Again both teams would trade punts and interceptions in the fourth quarter. Trinity Bible College would find the endzone one final time with 55 seconds left in the game on a 43 yard touchdown pass from Justin Smith (Ridgecrest, CA) to Barry Bighorn (his 3^rd TD catch).  The Lions would hold on to win 41 to 24.

In the win the Lions were led on the ground by freshman running back Kalen Coats, who had 20 rushes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. Kalen averaged 6.8 yards per carry for the game. Barry Bighorn had a big receiving day for the Lions catching 6 balls for 121 yards and 3 touchdowns. Barry averaged 20.1 yards per catch. The Lions would use two quarterbacks on the day redshirt freshman Austin Morris who went 12 for 24 passing for 122 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and was sacked 3 times, while junior Justin Smith went 8 for 14 passing for 105 yards and 1 touchdown.  The Lions defense was led by freshman linebacker Billy Russell (Desoto, TX) who had 8 total tackles with 1 sack and 3 tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Marcus Bartels (Belden, NE) also had 8 total tackles. Sophomore linebacker Seth Peterson added 6 total tackles with a half a sack to go with his interception return for a touchdown.  Devonte Davis (Desoto, TX), Jason Elliott (Thedford, NE) and Christ Reynolds (Savage, MT) all had an interception for the Lions.  

The Lions held Cole College to negative 24 yards rushing and to only 285 yards of total offense. The Lions would rack up 527 yards of total offense of their own with 300 yards of rushing and 227 yards of passing.

The win moves the Lions to 1-1 on the season with their next game this Saturday, September 8^th against Maranatha Baptist Bible College with kick-off at 1:00pm.