Lindenwood University head coach Patrick Ross and his team got part of what they wanted on Saturday against fourth-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College - the Lions got their chance to tee it up against a legitimate national championship contender, but they weren't able to pull out the win. Georgetown opened its season with a hard-fought 27-17 road win over 15th-ranked Lions in St. Charles, Mo.

"We made some mistakes in the first half that put us in too deep a hole against a good team like Georgetown," said Ross. "We came back and played well in the second half, so we know we can play with them, but that still doesn't equal a win."

The Tigers took advantage of three first-half LU turnovers to take a 27-7 lead to the locker room, then held on despite being shut out in the second half. Senior quarterback Jeff Smith was the ringleader for Georgetown, passing for 228 yards, with one TD, scoring one on the ground himself. The All-American completed 23 of 35 passes with no interceptions.

Junior TB Hakeem Abdullah (21) finishes a 61-yard, first quarter pass-and-run TD play from sophomore QB Ben Kisner; hustling to the end of the play are senior OT Brandon Reynolds (72) and sophomore FB Austin Bortle (33).

Lindenwood battled back after the intermission, behind a short Haley Farrell field goal after a long drive, and a TD pass from sophomore Ben Kisner to senior Steven Kennedy. Kisner also tossed a scoring pass to junior tailback Hakeem Abdullah in the first quarter, with Abdullah taking a short throw in the left flat and rolling all the way back across the field from 61 yards out.

The two-headed tailback tandem of Abdullah and reshman McCray Harris produced 119 yards on 23 carries, and Abdullah hauled in five pass receptions for 87 yards and the TD.

"We had some chances in the second half to make it really interesting, but we couldn't quite get that big play," said Ross. "It's great for a young team like ours to be in that kind of battle, so hopefully it will help us during the conference season to have that experience in the bank."

The Lions begin the nine-game remainder of their conference schedule with a road trip to Atchison, Kan., next weekend, where they'll hook up with perennial HAAC power Benedictine College. Kickoff is set for 2:00 on Saturday afternoon.