All things considered, this one started out like it was going to be the Lions' day. After taking the opening kickoff of Saturday's Homecoming football game at MidAmerica Nazarene, head coach Patrick Ross watched his young Lion offense storm down the field on a five-play, 64-yd. drive which culminated in a 37-yd. TD pass from sophomore QB Ben Kisner to standout freshman receiver Trevan Hombs. Barely two minutes into the game, the Lions led 7-0.

Unfortunately for the banged up and a-little-too-youthful Lions, that would be the high point of the festivities, as the Pioneers regrouped, took advantage of some LU mistakes in the second quarter, and took a 10-7 lead to the locker room at halftime. After the queen was crowned, MidAmerica came out and dominated the second half behind the passing of Matt Schneider and the catching of James Perry, and surged out to a 24-7 lead. The Pioneers added a meaningless TD with 13 seconds left - on a pass play - to make the final score 31-7.

"We just didn't do enough things well after that opening drive to take them out of their game plan," said Ross, who now owns a record of 21-7 in HAAC play as a head coach. "We had no answer for their short passing game, and they did a good job getting us off the field on third down. That's a bad combination."

The Lions have struggled in recent weeks with third down, on both sides of the football, and that trend continued against the Pioneers, now 6-2 overall and in HAAC play. MidAmerica ran off a whopping 88 plays from scrimmage, compared to 45 for the Lions, with Perry continually catching short passes and turning them into decent gains, often keeping drives alive. The tough senior ended the afternoon with 17 receptions for 205 yards.

"He's a good player, strong and fast," said Ross of the MidAmerica stalwart. "He's what we hope a young guy like Hombs looks like for us when he's a senior."

Hombs, a product of Blue Springs South, caught five balls for 102 yards on the afternoon, but the only other offensive threat the Lions could muster was the 75 rushing yards on 13 carries contributed by junior tailback Hakeem Abdullah.

The first quarter actually went quite well for LU, as the Lions left the opening period with a 7-3 lead. Things began to come unraveled a bit in the middle of the second quarter, though, when the Pioneers stopped senior tailback Marcus Crawford short on fourth-and-two at the MNU 28, after the Lions had driven 54 yards in eight plays to get there.

"That was a big stop for them, because we have a chance to punch it in and go up 14-3," said Ross. "When you're as young as we are, playing with a lead is much easier than playing from behind. We absolutely have to convert that possession to beat a good team on their field."

Later in the quarter, after MNU was forced to punt, disaster struck in the Lions' end of the field, as freshman tight end Zach Foster, in his first attempt at handling the ball in a varsity game, fumbled on a screen pass, and the Pioneers recovered at the LU 44. A short field scoring drive followed, and the Lions would never be in position to regain the lead.

The second half was all Pioneers, as the tiring LU defense couldn't get Schneider and his playmates off the field on third down, and the sputtering Lion offense, plagued by dropped passes and spotty execution all day, couldn't sustain a drive.

"They came out and played better than we did, in all phases of the game," said Ross. "We have to come back and play well these last two weeks, because no one is going to feel sorry for us in the Heart - and Baker and Avila are both playing well enough to beat us if we don't come out with the eye of the tiger and get prepared."

Avila will be the opponent for this Saturday's home date, with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 pm at Lindenwood University Stadium.