OZARK, Mo. – A smothering defensive effort by the Evangel football team gave the Crusaders a 21-0 shutout over Missouri Valley Saturday afternoon in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.
The Crusaders snapped a streak of nine straight losses to the Vikings and posted their first shutout since a 24-0 win over Langston on Sept. 8, 2007. Evangel has now won four straight and more importantly sits at 3-0 in the Heart South Division standings.
On the opening drive, Evangel marched 73-yards in in nine plays to score the first points when Cameron Hardesty found Chance Smith in the corner of the end zone. The 13-yard touchdown pass was the first of three by Hardesty as he finished 8-of-15 for 149 yards.
After both teams traded a series of punts, the Crusaders would strike again in the second quarter as Brady Collier scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass and catch from Hardesty. The score came with 13:18 left before halftime and would stay that way through intermission.
The Crusaders would score one more time on a deep pass to Dallas Hester for a 31-yard strike from Hardesty. Hester finished with 61-yards receiving, as the Crusaders were able to grind out the second half via the run.
Zayne Kyser led Evangel with 71-yards on 18 carries as Darrius Lee added 34-yards on 15 touches. Zeke Kuyawa also carried seven times for 48-yards as the trio finish with 153 of Evangel’s yards on the ground. The Crusaders totaled 301 yards of offense as the defense stepped up to hold the Vikings to barely 201 yards of offense.
Evangel sacked the Vikings four times including one each from Josh Evans, Micah Daniels, and Brady Dawson. Daniels led the Crusaders with 11 tackles as Evans now has 29 career sacks and is just one behind second place on the all-time Evangel sack list – Lamont Wynn (1998-01) with 30.
Defensively, Evangel managed to keep the Vikings out of the end zone and off the scoreboard with three stands inside the red zone for Missouri Valley. The Crusaders forced two turnover-on-downs and intercepted one pass after a fumble inside the Missouri Valley 5-yard line set up first-and-goal.
UP NEXT
Evangel will head to Kansas City to face Avila next Saturday in the Heart Game of the Week on Mediacom and ESPN3. Kickoff is scheduled 11 a.m.
