CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Manchester University football team suffered its first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference defeat on Saturday after dropping a 28-0 road decision at Mount St. Joseph University.

The Lions' defense was challenging to overcome as the Spartans were sacked 7 times, lost a pair of fumbles, and had a pair of passes intercepted. MSJ limited Manchester to just 7 first downs and 100 yards of total offense in Saturday's game.

The Lions scored on the third play of the contest and never looked back en route to the shutout. Tyler Prather connected with Austin Brock on a 64-yard strike to open the scoring. In the 2^nd quarter, Prather hit Jake Ayler from 11 yards out for his second touchdown pass of the game. MSJ pushed the score to 21-0 later in the 2^nd quarter after 5-yard touchdown run by Mariano Mackenzie. The Lions would put their fourth TD on the board in the 4^th quarter following a 10-yard fumble recovery by Devon Donawerth.

Manchester's defense came away with a pair of interceptions of its own while holding the Lions to 276 yards of offense. Michael Cross (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) picked off his first pass of the season on Saturday. Haylee Smith (Indianapolis, Ind./Charles A. Tindley) also was credited with an interception. Jalen Masden (Evansville, Ind./Harrison) led the Black & Gold with seven total tackles.

Andrew Kibler (Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner) punted 12 times for 474 yards. He had a pair of 50+-yard punts and placed four punts inside the 20-yard line. Kibler's longest punt of the day wne tfor 53-yards. 

Manchester (2-4, 2-1 HCAC) will return to Spartan Stadium on Saturday October 23 to host Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Game time is slated for 1:30 p.m.

Mt. St. Joseph (4-2, 3-0 HCAC) remained unbeaten in conference play following the win. The Lions will travel to Defiance College on Saturday October 23.