Hawks end season with offensive outburst, capture inaugural Battle of the Birds trophy

LIBERTY, Mo. — As the Quincy University football team prepared to leave the hotel Saturday morning to head to Greene Stadium, Hawks coach Gary Bass delivered a message about what finishing means.

“I told them it’s about bringing something to completion that ends well,” Bass said.

The Hawks finished in style.

A 24-point second quarter allowed Quincy to build an insurmountable lead and post a 51-17 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over William Jewell in the regular-season finale for both teams. The victory snapped the Hawks’ five-game losing streak and allowed them to take home the inaugural Battle of the Birds trophy.

“The guys were behind each other the entire way,” Bass said. “They were passionate, and they finished for each other the way they needed to finish.”

Quincy ends its season with a 4-7 record.

“It was a good win,” Bass said. “We were able to get after them pretty good.”

After three lackluster possessions to start the game, the Hawks grabbed a 7-3 lead with 3:23 remaining in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Tionne Harris connected with junior wide receiver A.J. Hardin on a 48-yard touchdown strike.

The second quarter began with Harris hitting Angel Ruiz for a 7-yard touchdown pass. The Hawks then turned a Peyten Chappel interception into a 22-yard scoring run by Tremayne Lee. A fumble recovery for a touchdown and a Micahel Klotz field goal gave Quincy a 31-17 halftime edge.

The Hawks outscored the Cardinals 20-0 in the second half and finished with eight plays of 20 or more yards.

“As many offenses as I’ve been a part of as a coach or a coordinator or a head coach, I’ve never seen an offense have some of the big plays that we have,” Bass said. “It’s like 30-yard, 40-yard, 50-yard plays. It’s insanity.”

The end result was 476 yards of total offense. Harris completed 19 of 36 passes for 316 yards and two scores, while Jalen Lawrence had five catches for 118 yards and Hardin had four grabs for 96 yards and a touchdown.

“Lawrence proved he can be a difference-maker at receiver,” Bass said.

The ground game churned out 160 yards with Taylor Temple rushing for 61 yards and Lee grinding out 50 yards.

“They were always going to put two people more in the box than we had to block,” Bass said. “So we had to take what they were giving us. We did a nice job of finding ways to move the ball.”