Taylor Scores 58 in Wild Overtime Win at Olivet Nazarene

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – In an offensive shootout that had 56 first downs, 1,104 yards of offense, 15 touchdowns and just two punts, it was a fumbled snap in the game's final minute that gave Taylor new life, and the Trojans capitalized to complete a 58-51 win in overtime at Olivet Nazarene.

After a rare defensive stand from the hosts gave the Tigers (1-1) the ball with a 51-48 lead and less than one minute to play, a fumbled snap on ONU's next play was recovered by Parker Whitby to give Taylor one final hope.

A Jameson Chesser 23-yard reception was followed by a 15-yard penalty on the hosts that moved the ball inside the red zone to the 17-yard line. Taylor could get just three more yards but tied the game with 10 seconds to play on a 31-yard field goal from Lucas Shilts.

In overtime, TU took the ball first and needed just three plays to punch it in. Dakohta Sonnichsen and Chessor opened with runs of 10 and 13 yards to move the ball to the two-yard marker. Taylor handed the ball to Chesser again for the two-yard score and the successful Shilts point-after attempt gave the Trojans a 58-51 lead.

Needing just one stop to secure the dramatic victory, Taylor saw a costly penalty march the Tigers to the 17-yard line. Olivet Nazarene got three yards on each of its next two plays but failed to connect on its last two pass attempts, as TU pulled out the overtime victory.

The end-game heroics did not look likely in the early going, as ONU jumped to a 14-0 lead before Taylor rattled off touchdowns on five of its last six touches of the first half.

The Trojans continued their march after the intermission, finding the end zone on their first two touches of the third quarter to open up a 48-35 lead.

ONU would storm back however, surrounding a TU missed field goal with a touchdown and a field goal of its own to battle to within 48-44 with 8:03 remaining in the game. Taylor's second and final punt of the night was followed by yet another Tiger touchdown to put the Trojans in the 51-48 hole with 3:20 left.

Taylor took the ensuing possession across midfield with the clock ticking under one minute, before a big loss on fourth down seemingly ended the Trojans' night.

Things turned one play later on the fumble recovery by Whitby, which set the stage for the game-tying field goal from Shilts and the game-winning touchdown in overtime to send the Trojans home with the 58-51 win.

Taylor piled up 541 total yards of offense on the night, marking its best output under fourth-year head coach Aaron Mingo. TU did much of that damage on the turf, racking up 379 yards for the second-most under Mingo.

Chessor led the way with 206 yards rushing on 27 carries, clipping off 7.6 yards per touch and finding the end zone twice. Damon Hockett also eclipsed the century mark on the ground with 17 rushes for 103 yards and a score, while Kyle Turanchick tallied 8.5 yards per touch over eight carries for 68 yards.

In addition to rushing for 103 yards, Hockett tossed for 162 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Two of those scores went to the hands of Nathan Munson, who caught two passes for two touchdowns for the second-straight game to open his collegiate career.

Aven Jones led the Taylor defense with 10 solo tackles, two hits for lost yardage and one sack, while Jacob Hockett posted seven hits and Grady Stanley joined David Worlds with six stops.

Jeremiah Mansfield picked up two of Taylor's five sacks, with Thad Thoman, RJ Veldman and Jones each recording one and Whitby adding the game-saving fumble recovery.

Reid Messer also came up large for the Trojans, picking off passes on back-to-back first-half ONU possessions to help flip a 21-14 deficit into a 28-21 TU lead. Messer returned the first interception 45 yards to the end zone and the next interception 16 yards to the Tigers' four-yard line to set up yet another touchdown.

Shilts accounted for 10 points on the scoreboard, going seven-of-eight on point-after attempts and connecting on the 31-yard field goal.

Taylor (2-0, 1-0 MSFA) will head home to host Judson (1-0) on Saturday, September 14 under the lights in Turner Stadium at 7:00 pm.