West Palm Beach, Fla.- Playing in their first NAIA Football Championship Series, Arizona Christian was turned away by Keiser (FL).  The Seahawks capitalized on early mistakes by the Firestorm to build a big lead early and did not look back.

Turnovers caused ACU to be unable to get in a smooth flow.  Junior Shea Morales threw one touchdown pass but also two interceptions.  Freshman James Duncan completed 10 of 11 pass attempts.  Senior Jon Cole was the most consistent offensive weapon with 10 catches.

Seniors Jacob Hernandez (ten tackles) and Clay Branton III (eight tackles) were busy all day as Keiser ran for 310 yards as a team- a season high against the Firestorm.  Junior Dante Sewell and Freshman Maurice Powell both had seven tackles.

Game Info

• Game score: Keiser - 63, Arizona Christian - 21
• Records: Arizona Christian- 9-2, Keiser - 8-0
• NAIA Top 25 Rank: Arizona Christian - 12, Keiser - 4
• Location: KU Football Field, West Palm Beach, FL

Offensive Stars

• Morales- 17-31, 161 passing yards, touchdown
• Duncan- 10-11, 88 passing yards
• Cole- 10 catches, 118 yards, rushing touchdown
• Alex York- 3 catches, 61 yards
• Sid Turnbull-Frazier- 3 catches, 20 yards, touchdown
• Aidan Quinn- touchdown

Defensive Stars

• Hernandez- 10 tackles
• Branton- 8 tackles
• Sewell- 7 tackles
• Powell- 7 tackles
• Dezmon Dean- sack

Inside The Numbers

• After KU kicked a field goal on their first possession, Morales was picked off on the second ACU offensive play
• Four plays later, Keiser scored their first touchdown and built a 10-0 before the game was four minutes old
• When the first quarter ended, KU held a 32-0 edge
• Morales to Turnbull-Frazier with less than five minutes left in the half put ACU on the scoreboard
• The Firestorm scored first in second half on a Cole run from three yards out
• Two plays into the fourth quarter, Quinn found the endzone but for the final ACU points of the season
• ACU out passed KU 249-236
• Despite the loss, the Firestorm end with their most wins and fewest losses in a season

Thoughts from Coach Bowen

"We have a lot of wonderful accomplishments this year… A conference championship, a 9-1 regular season, a trip to the playoffs… All firsts!  Today we were beat by a better team, we will learn from this and we will improve in the months to come."

Up Next

The Firestorm end basically two seasons played under a single season umbrella.