Lindenwood football loses to Central Missouri for second year.

Last year, when the Lions played the Mules, they had a third quarter meltdown and lost by three touchdowns.
This time it was a different story, but the same result. LU lost to Central Missouri on Sept. 15, 35-28 in Hunter Stadium.
The Lions tied the game at 28 in the fourth quarter, but the Mules stormed back to regain the lead with minutes left.
 LU had problems with their final drive. Junior quarterback Ben Gomez fumbled the ball and two plays later, he threw an interception to seal the win for Central Missouri.
“We were trying to make a completion, trying to make a big play at the end,” Gomez said. He had four turnovers: three fumbles and the interception.
“Sometimes I just get so nervous, and excited in that pocket that I have a bad tendency to put the ball down,” Gomez said.
Gomez finished with 21 of 34 passing and one touchdown. He got sacked five times.
The Lions hurt themselves by having miscues. The most crucial came late in the second quarter. LU was inside the redzone and the team failed to score a touchdown that would have given them the lead. Instead the Lions settled for a field goal and went into halftime down by one point, 14-13.
The LU offensive line worked hard to stop a quick UCM defense, but it was a struggle. “We had some miscommunication on a couple of plays,” said senior center Matt Atley. “It was nothing we didn’t expect.”
The Lions have 13 turnovers in three games. Nine of them are by Gomez.
“We played as good as we good, if we had an extra five minutes we would have won the game,” said head coach Patrick Ross.
Senior runningback Denodus O’Bryant had a stellar game with 271 all-purpose yards, including a 108 kick return for a touchdown. The official stat says 100 yards since college football rules state that the extra yardage does not count.
“I trusted my speed and got the touchdown,” said a sober O’Bryant.
This was the second game of a four game homestand. The squad faces Glenville State College on Friday Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in Hunter stadium. They are now 2-1.