In the end, the two teams were like a pair of punch drunk fighters, wailing away in the center of the ring. Well over a thousand yards of offense, great plays on both sides of the football by both teams, a multitude of mistakes and miscues, intense, physical, emotional ... and one team left standing.

It was the new gold helmets on the Lindenwood sideline which were raised high at the end, as the Lions landed enough blows during a dizzying Opening Night matchup against 17th-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene to take a huge 44-34 win at home. A large LU crowd watched junior quarterback Ben Kisner throw for 250 yards in his first game at the helm of the Lions' new no-huddle attack, and three LU tailbacks picked up 216 rushing yards on 22 carries to key the win.

The Lions needed every bit of it against the high octane MidAmerica offense, led by senior quarterback Matt Schneider, who surely iced down his arm all the way back to Olathe after the game: 43 completions on 61 attempts, good for 464 yards and three TD's. The Lion defense answered the bell seven different times with takeaways, however, and one of those four picks was returned for a 20-yd. touchdown by junior corner Thomas Christian (his first of two in the game).

"We made just enough plays on defense when we had to have them, turning them over deep in our end," said LU head coach Patrick Ross. "They moved easily between the twenties, but their receivers were paying for all those receptions. The big difference was, our offense was able to score on big plays without getting stalled out down close."

Junior Austin Bortle's big catch and run of a Ben Kisner aerial in the fourth quarter was a huge play on Saturday night, as the Lions dropped MNU, 44-34 - Bortle finished the evening with five receptions for 111 yards, including a 62-yd. touchdown.

MidAmerica Nazarene opened the scoring in the first quarter, on a two-yd. run by Patrick Ealy (27 carries, 128 yards). Five plays later, Lindenwood junior tailback Richard Murrell posted the first Lion score of the season, busting a 3rd-and-two play up the middle for a 51-yd. touchdown. MidAmerica answered with a 31-yd. TD pass from Schneider to LaDrew Murrell ... then LU answered on a 62-yd. TD catch and run off a screen pass from Kisner to junior Austin Bortle. And so it went, with both teams landing haymakers and getting up off the canvas, until the Pioneers wrapped up a crazy first half with a 27-26 lead.

"It seemed like the first half was never going to end," said Ross of the two opening quarters. "In one stretch of the second quarter, we stopped them on downs at our ten, fumbled it right back to them on the first play, Ealy scored, then Leonard (Durant) broke the 66-yarder on the next play. As sloppy as it was at times, it was great to watch."

The Lions' three-headed tailback - consisting of Durant, Murrell and senior Hakeem Abdullah - was able to control the ball on the ground just enough to keep Schneider and his playmates off the field when it counted. The two long runs helped with another kind of control - the scoreboard kind - and Kisner's 19-of-25 accuracy in the passing game meant there were very few empty plays for the LU offense, which averaged nine yards on each snap.

"We didn't run as many plays as we would like, but we sure did put points on the board," said Ross. "There will be games this year when we run 80 plays, but we'll take nine yards per snap and 44 points. If both teams hadn't shot themselves in the foot so often, the score might have really been crazy, but the only stat that matters at all is who wins."

The Lions regained control for good on the second play after halftime, when Christian picked off an ill-advised Schneider throw into the right flat and rolled 20 yards for the touchdown. Earlier in the game, the Long Beach, Calif., native had dropped a similar pass that would have been a 90-yd. TD, but he didn't miss the second chance, and LU went back ahead, 34-27.

After a Halley Ferrell field goal from 45 yards out gave LU a ten-point lead near the end of the third quarter, the Lions applied the blow to the jugular with a nine-play, 85-yard drive for a touchdown early in the fourth. The fatal blow started with a 42-yd. pass from Kisner to freshman Ricky McDermott, and ended on a six-yd. scoring pass to Dominic Peterson on 3rd-and-two.

The Pioneers did not quit, battling back to put up one more score in the final period, but the deficit and the clock were too much to overcome. Schneider kept racking up the passing yards, but threw two costly picks in the final period. Head coach Jed Stugart's team breathed it's final gasp when LU sophomore Brandon Gould forced a fumble by Ealy, and junior Mark Marquez recovered at the Lindenwood 19. One kneel down and a celebration later, the Lions were 1-0 headed into next's week first road game at Avila (Mo.) University.

"It was a great win for our program, because you judge yourself based on how you play against the best," said Coach Ross. "We have admiration for their team and players, and it's always nice to beat someone like that. Our conference race is going to be tough, and MidAmerica will be in it at the end, but we started out 1-0 tonight, and that's a great start."

Kickoff next weekend is set for 1:00 at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, against an Eagle team which opened the season with a resounding 38-21 win on the road at Culver-Stockton.

Junior linebacker Quran Barge (10) celebrates a fumble recovery early in the game - Barge ended the evening with 13 tackles, including a sack and a TFL