Trojans Ride Fast Start, Strong Finish to Home Win

UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor scored the first 21 points and the final 13 of Saturday's home clash with Lawrence Tech, getting back into the win column with a 48-30 victory over the Blue Devils inside Turner Stadium.

The Trojans rode the legs of Dakohta Sonnichsen throughout and the senior delivered with big play after big play, ending the day with two touchdowns, a two-point conversion and 194 all-purpose yards on just six touches. Sonnichsen posted a game-high 121 rushing yards and two scores on four carries, averaging 30.3 yards per run, while catching one ball for 46 yards and returning one kickoff for 27 yards.

With Sonnichsen providing the chunk plays, Taylor leaned on Jameson Chesser, Kyle Turanchick and Damon Hockett for a combined 161 rushing yards on 39 carries. Turanchick powered in for two touchdowns, with Hockett scoring once and Chesser tying the TU single-season record with his 15th rushing touchdown of the year.

For the game, Taylor rushed for 319 yards on 6.4 yards a pop and ended with seven rushing touchdowns. The seven scores boosted TU's single-season program-record to 38 and pushed the Trojans into the NAIA lead in that category, while the 300-yard game marked the sixth of the year for the NAIA's second-best rushing attack.

Aven Jones led the defense with 11 tackles, eclipsing the century mark on the year with his seventh performance of double-digit sticks. Mixed into the 11 stops were seven solo tackles and one sack.

Other defensive standouts included Jacob Hockett with seven tackles, Parker Whitby with 1.5 sacks, David Worlds with a trio of pass breakups and Thad Thoman with five quarterback pressures. In all, Taylor posted four sacks, seven tackles for lost yardage, seven pass breakups and 11 quarterback pressures.

That defensive effort helped Taylor take control early, as the Trojans limited LTU (1-6, 0-2 MSFA) to 112 total yards of offense in the first half. The Blue Devils completed just four-of-17 passes and managed just four rushing yards outside of quarterback carries in the opening 30 minutes.

Taylor rode that strong defensive play to a 28-7 lead at the break, before Lawrence Tech finally came alive in the third with a pair of touchdowns and a converted on-side kick that set up a field goal early in the fourth.

The LTU spurt continued through the early minutes of the fourth, as a Taylor fumble gave the ball back to the suddenly hot Devils and another touchdown from the guests narrowed the Trojan cushion to 35-30 with 10:42 to play.

As it did all afternoon, Taylor turned to Sonnichsen for a big moment and was rewarded on a 47-yard run on third-and-nine that moved the ball to the LTU 12-yard line. Chesser handled it twice from there, pushing the lead up to 42-30 on runs of three and nine yards.

A quick defensive stop handed the ball back to the Trojans and a 21-yard scamper to the end zone by Hockett put the game away at 48-30 with just-under two minutes remaining.

Taylor (6-2, 2-1 MSFA) will play at home once again on Saturday, November 2 with a 1:00 pm start against Defiance (3-5).