Roosevelt's Title Chase Comes Up Just Short Against Cougars

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Roosevelt's quest to end its NAIA membership with a conference title fell just short with a 35-14 setback against No. 13 Saint Xavier on Saturday at Morris Field in the de-facto Mid-States Football Association Midwest League title game.

The Lakers (6-4, 4-1 MSFA Midwest) opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on a 75-yard pitch and catch from Carson Budke to Keonta Nixon. The toss came on the first play of Roosevelt's second drive as Nixon snuck behind the Cougars defense and made it an easy throw for Budke.

Roosevelt was on the verge of taking a two-score lead midway through the second quarter when Tyler Tenner rumbled through the defense for a 57-yard gain inside the red zone. However, the Cougars forced a fumble two plays later and converted that into the tying score.

Undeterred, the Lakers needed just three plays to take the lead again. Once again it was a long touchdown pass from Budke to Nixon, but it was the receiver who did much of the grunt work on the 49-yard score. Budke's initial pass was a short throw toward the sideline to Nixon for what would have been an easy first down. Instead, Nixon spun out of a pair of tackles and raced along the sideline the final 40 or so yards to turn it into a touchdown.

The Cougars capitalized on a second fumble to tie the game heading into halftime, which turned around the momentum of the game. The 13^th-ranked Cougars added three touchdowns in the second half to pull away for the win as the Lakers failed to convert on their four third-down chances in the final 30 minutes.

Tenner finished with his seventh 100-yard game in nine appearances this season after rushing for 115 yards on 15 carries. Those carries propelled him over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career as he finished with 1,013 rushing yards on 202 carries this season. Nixon also had a big game for the Lakers with six catches for 182 yards and the two scores, accounting for half of Roosevelt's completions in the game.

On defense, Jaylen Olokun led the way with 11 tackles, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss among the eight the Lakers had in the game. Roosevelt also sacked Saint Xavier three times with Dominic Barbosa and Corties Draper each securing one while Charlie Brooks and Jordan Payne split the other one.  

Roosevelt concluded its final season as an NAIA school and now looks ahead to NCAA Division II play next fall in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Among the notable players scheduled to return for the Lakers are Budke, tight end Jacob Biddle and Nixon, along with Olokun and defensive backs Joey Mahop and Stacey Terry.