St. Scholastica's remarkable rebound from a season-opening 98-0 loss to St. John's hit a snag Saturday afternoon with a 40-34 setback against host Eureka (Ill.) College in a pivotal UMAC game with postseason implications.
The Saints (7-2 overall, 7-1 UMAC) took a 21-20 lead into the fourth quarter on Hunter Thompson's second receiving touchdown, which capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive. But the Red Devils (7-2, 7-1) seized control thanks to the star of the game Leanthony Reasnover, who scored back-to-back touchdowns to start a fourth quarter that featured 33 total points.
Reasnover came into the game as the sixth-leading rusher in NCAA Division III, and didn't hurt his standing on that list. He turned a whopping 53 carries into 355 yards and five TDs, the last of which put Eureka in front 40-27 with 1:46 remaining.
It proved decisive when Thompson grabbed his third scoring strike from Zach Edwards with 59 seconds to go. Next week St. Scholastica faces MacMurray, which lost 21-13 to Westminster on Saturday, at Public Schools Stadium. The Saints need to win that game and hope Eureka loses to Martin Luther to return to the NCAA playoffs.
Edwards finished with 267 yards and four TDs on 16-for-31 passing as St. Scholastica saw its seven-game winning streak end.
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St. Scholastica 7-7-7-13-34
Eureka 6-14-0-20-40
E - Leanthony Reasnover 3 run (kick failed)
CSS - Christian Rund 11 pass from Zach Edwards (Joe Matthews kick)
E - Reasnover 61 run (Tanner Kuhne kick)
CSS - Hunter Thompson 12 pass from Edwards (Matthews kick)
E - Nick Holman 1 run (Kuhne kick)
CSS - Thompson 11 pass from Edwards (Matthews kick)
E - Reasnover 1 run (run failed)
E - Reasnover 4 run (Kuhne kick)
CSS - Aaron Olson 28 pass from Elliott Simon (Matthews kick)
E - Reasnover 2 run (Kuhne kick)
CSS - Thompson 2 pass from Edwards (Matthews kick)
