Wildcats Fall to Seahawks in NAIA Championship Series Quarterfinals
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -The No. 7 Bethel University Wildcats traveled to West Palm Beach, Florida to face No. 3 Keiser on Saturday in the NAIA Championship Series Quarterfinals.
For the second year in a row Keiser knocked Bethel out of the playoffs. Keiser (10-2) moved to the semifinals with a 56-14 victory. Bethel saw their season end at 11-2.
The Wildcats took the opening kick-off and appeared to have early momentum but had to punt from near midfield. The Wildcats had another 1st quarter opportunity when Jacious Clark recovered a muffed punt. The Wildcats took over at the Keiser 38. Bethel was unable to take advantage of the field position and had to punt the ball back to the Hawks. Keiser then drove 84 yards on four plays to take a 7-0 lead with 3:36 left in the quarter. Jaden Meizinger rushed in from six yards out to cap off the drive. Nico Cavanillas nailed the extra point.
In the second quarter, Keiser upped their margin using an eight play 70-yard drive to lead 14-0. Andrew Burnette scored on a two-yard scamper at the 10:27 mark. The Wildcats fell behind 21-0 seven minutes later when Keiser quarterback Bryce Veasley hit Lewis Averhart on a ten-yard touchdown pass with 3:35 left in the half. The pass finished off a ten play 73-yard drive. On the ensuing series, Bethel quarterback Joaquin Collazo III was sacked and fumbled. Wendol Philord recovered at the Keiser 35 and went 65 yards for another Seahawk score. The Hawks led 28-0 with 2:16 remaining in the half.
Less than a minute later the Wildcats got on the board. Collazo hit Avont Burrus on a 73-yard pass play to set up a five -yard strike to J D Dixon capping off the two play 78-yard drive. With 1:27 left in the half, it was 28-7 after the Andrew Welch extra point. After a bad Keiser punt, the Wildcats took over in Seahawk territory, but Collazo was picked off by Seahawk Justin Carcal on the last play of the half and Keiser took the 28-7 lead to the locker room.
Keiser added two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 42-7 lead. Mezinger finished a 61-yard drive with a two- yard rushing score. The Hawks scored again when Philord returned a Bethel punt for 56 yards and a score. The Wildcats fought back with five minutes left in the quarter. Collazo and Dixon teamed up on a 52-yard touchdown pass that cut the Hawk lead to 42-14. The Seahawks put together another long, time-consuming drive to garner a 49-14 margin. Burnette scored on a six-yard run capping off an eight-minute fourteen play 77-yard drive. The Hawks were not through. The Keiser defense picked off another Collazo pass and took advantage of a short field as they put together a nine play 47-yard drive to take a 56-14 lead. Burnette had another rushing touchdown for the score.
Burrus had 104 yards in receptions while Dixon had 100. Darrien Lewis led the defense with 10 total tackles.
Keiser is a perfect 25-0 all-time when reaching the 40-point plateau.
Keiser had a 267-75 advantage in rushing yards. Bethel had a 257-135 margin in passing yards.
Collazo finished with a program record 37 career touchdowns. Dixon has 19 career touchdown receptions which is a program record.
Coach Michael Jasper commented, "Congratulations to Coach Socha and his club. They absolutely humbled us. I'm so proud of these Wildcats and how they played all year, but we have a lot of work to do, mainly myself, to get us where we can compete deeper than the quarterfinals. We will head back to McKenzie and jump right on the drawing board."