Westminster College Blue Jays head football coach John Welty's first words to describe his team's just completed game against the Minnesota-Morris Cougars were accurate ones.
"Boy that was ugly," Welty said
Sure, it wasn't pretty, but it was still a win. The Blue Jays were outgained on offense 253-178 but rode two defensive scores and second-half adjustments to a 27-14 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference win at Priest Field on Saturday.
Westminster (5-1, 4-1 UMAC) led 7-0 for much of the first half after catching a break on defense on the opening drive of the game. After getting sacked by the Blue Jays for a 16-yard loss, Minnesota-Morris junior quarterback Derrick Foss couldn't bring in a high snap from the center and the ball rolled back to the Cougars' goal line.
The ball squirted out of the hands of Foss and rolled into the end zone, and was finally recovered by Westminster junior defensive end Rodney Lyles for a touchdown.
"I was shocked that they did that because I thought that Minnesota-Morris had recovered it at the goal line," Welty said.
The Cougars (2-4, 2-3) managed to keep the Westminster defense on the field for 42 plays in the first half, while the Blue Jays ran just 17 during that span. Minnesota-Morris tied the score 7-7 on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Derrick Foss to sophomore wide receiver Brendon Foss with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first half.