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Florida Memorial University Athletics

Scoreboard

FMU player
Charles Bethel Jr.
7
Florida Memorial FMU 1-8 , 0
38
Winner Ave Maria AVE 4-5 , 3
Florida Memorial FMU
1-8 , 0
7
Final
38
Ave Maria AVE
4-5 , 3
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
FMU Florida Memorial 0 0 7 0 7
AVE Ave Maria 14 21 0 3 38

Game Recap: Football | | J.T. Wilcox, Sports Information Director

Young’s Big Rushing Day Not Enough, FMU Falls To Ave Maria Saturday

AVE MARIA, Fla. – Florida Memorial University freshman running back George Young set a new modern-era program record and new career-high for most rushing yards in a single game with his 146 yards, but it wasn't enough, as the Lions fell into a large deficit early that they were unable to rally back from and ultimately fell 38-7 to host Ave Maria University Saturday night at AMU's Gyrene Field.
 
The Lions, who were hoping to build on their historic and record-breaking win this past week and potentially capture its first road and Mid-South Conference Sun Division victory, saw the Gyrenes take a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and saw them extend that lead to 35-0 by halftime – punctuating the second quarter run with a blocked punt that AMU returned for a score with just 19 seconds left in the first half.
 
FMU got on the board midway through the third quarter when freshman quarterback Demarcus McEachern broke out of the pocket and evaded multiple defenders as he scampered 19 yards for a touchdown. The Lions defense stiffened in the second half and held Ave Maria scoreless until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, when the Gyrenes tacked on a 32-yard field goal to create the final 38-7 margin.
 
Young was – by far – Florida Memorial's most productive offensive weapon. He consistently found running lanes and refused to go down on first contact, totaling his 146 yards on 18 carries at a 7.7 yard-per-carry clip. The Miami, Florida native also broke his previous modern-era program record for most offensive yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving yards combined) in a single game, racking up 154 total yards thanks to his 8-yard reception.
 
For all that went well for Young, the Lions (1-8, 0-4 Mid-South Conference Sun Division) struggled to get much offensive output from other places Saturday.
 
McEachern, making his third career start as FMU's signal caller, had a tough night throwing the ball. The freshman completed just 5 of his 19 passes for a season-low 28 passing yards with two interceptions. McEachern was sacked seven times, a new modern-era record for most sacks allowed in a game, and spent much of night under duress in the pocket.
 
The dreariness of McEachern's night could be summed up in two first-half plays – a first-quarter passing play that saw the quarterback's throw get tipped at the line of scrimmage where he had to snag the ricocheted ball out of the air to avoid a turnover and a second-quarter pass into the end zone that was picked off, thwarting a Lions drive that could've cut into the 14-0 deficit at the time.
 
Ave Maria (4-5, 3-1) didn't necessarily outright dominate Florida Memorial Saturday. The Gyrenes were gifted short fields for their offense in the first half due to FMU's early drives stalling out – evident by the Lions going 1-for-16 on third-down conversions. AMU did rack up 206 rushing yards but the Lions' defense did a solid job of pressuring the Ave Maria quarterbacks and forced two interceptions while holding the Gyrenes to just 136 passing yards.
 
Linebacker Joshua Mimms led the Lions in total tackles Saturday with 9, including a tackle-for-loss. Defensive lineman Quaylen Hill had 8 total tackles and defensive back Allen Lee finished with 7 tackles and recorded one of the team's two interceptions. Kristopher Fowles had the other INT while defensive end Antwan Davis registered FMU's only sack on the night.
 
Going into Saturday's game, Florida Memorial University head coach Tim "Ice" Harris Sr. said he wanted his team to build on all the positives it had in its victory this past week and try to create the program's first winning streak and not let the win over Union College be a "one-hit wonder".
 
While the loss to the Gyrenes undercut those expectations, Harris' team can still take away some positive building blocks as the team readies to host Webber International University this coming Saturday (Nov. 6) in what will be Florida Memorial's first football homecoming game.
 
"Overall, offensively, we didn't have a good night…our running game found some success throughout the game, but we weren't able to really capitalize on that because our passing game struggled," Harris said. "I feel like we did a better job defensively in the second half and started to key in on some things. The main thing for us will be putting together a complete performance in all facets of the game. We can't just have a good drive here, or a good quarter there, we have to be consistent and create our own momentum that way."
 
"We will have another opportunity to do that next week in the homecoming game against Webber International," Harris said.
 
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