Florida Memorial falls 31-17 in Battle of Miami Garden

Submitted by Florida Memorial University Alumni

      MIAMI GARDENS, FL —  The FMU Lions competed throughout the contest but fell short in the end, dropping a 31-17 contest to #19 St. Thomas in the Battle of Miami Gardens at AutoNation Field. This is the first conference loss for the Lions, who fall to 2-1 in SUN contests.

The Lions opened the game with an impressive defensive goal line stand and forced a turnover on downs on the opening possession. After a battle of field position, St. Thomas broke the scoreless tie with a 30-yard touchdown run from Traquan Johnson. The NAIA’s top offense struggled to find the end zone early against a tough St. Thomas defense, but eventually created running lanes for FMU running back Walter Wilbon.

The Bobcats scored another rushing touchdown to open the second quarter, but the Lions responded with back-to-back second quarter field goals from kicker Kesnel Baptiste, bringing the score to 14-6.

    In the second half, St. Thomas’ Khalitri Zow took an 84-yard pass to the house as FMU’s defensive backs attempted to make a play on the ball, but mistimed the route.

After another Baptiste field goal late in the third quarter, the Bobcats responded with a field goal of their own to open the fourth quarter. Florida Memorial answered back with their best drive of the afternoon as quarterback Cedquan Smith connected with David Studstill for a 29-yard touchdown, followed by a successful two-point conversion that brought the score to 24-17.

With time winding down late in the fourth quarter, while trailing by just seven points, the Lions defense battled until the end, but gave up a final touchdown, closing the door on any comeback attempt.

Smith completed 27-of-49 passes for 284 yards and threw one touchdown and one interception. Wilbon led the ground game with a total of 73 yards on 11 carries while teammate Quino Mauricette finished with 49 yards on the ground. Smith also rushed for 40 yards in the loss.

On the defensive end, Amari Taylor and Darius Conley both finished with a team-high eight tackles apiece while fellow Lion Daeshawn Davis added six.

FMU returns to action next Saturday, October 21 as they host Webber for its annual homecoming game. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Betty T. Ferguson Stadium.