Over the weekend, the Kenyon College football team traveled to Bluffton University to take on the Beavers under the Saturday night lights. Despite putting up a tremendous fight, the Owls lost 20-17 in the last 11 seconds of the game, a crushing defeat in Kenyon’s first game of the season.

The Owls began the first quarter on the front foot and gained an early lead. After the Kenyon defensive unit stopped Bluffton’s first drive, the Owls worked the ball up the field thanks to complete passes from quarterback Ryan Dean ’29 to Brendan Comerford ’27 and Charlie Taylor ’27. With 2:11 left in the quarter, Tyler Bell ’26 kicked a 31-yard field goal to put the Owls up 3-0.

Kenyon regained possession almost immediately in the second quarter after a failed Bluffton drive forced the Beavers to punt. Then, Dean completed a pass to Luca Rumberg ’27, marking the Owls’ first touchdown. Bell then knocked in the extra point to increase Kenyon’s lead to 10-0. However, the Beavers didn’t give up there, scoring a field goal on the next drive from the 44-yard line. After a quick back and forth, Kenyon was able to extend its lead by another touchdown, this time from Dean to Tyler Gladden ’28. The Owls went into halftime with a big 17-3 advantage.

The Beavers struck back hard in the third, challenging the Owls’ defense. With a successful field goal attempt five minutes in and a touchdown a couple minutes later, Bluffton gnawed away at the

Kenyon lead, leaving just a four-point differential between the two schools. A defensive battle began in the fourth quarter, as Kenyon looked to keep its lead while Bluffton worked to overtake the Owls. After a roughing-the-passer penalty on Kenyon, the Beavers found themselves at the 6-yard line with 15 seconds left to play. Despite a quick timeout hoping to regain focus, Kenyon couldn’t prevent the ensuing touchdown, putting Bluffton ahead for the first time in the game by a score of 20-17. The Owls hustled to stir a quick drive with just 11 seconds left, but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and the game ended in a Bluffton victory.

Dean completed 20-of-32 attempted passes, amounting to 283 yards, with the first year’s longest throw coming in at 38 yards. Rumberg, Taylor and Comerford each had four receptions, with Rumberg leading the trio with 63 receiving yards. Rumberg and Gladden scored both of Kenyon’s touchdowns for the night. On the defensive side, Andrew Cooney ’28 led the Owls with 9 tackles, followed by Michael Kerr ’27 and Tanner Smith ’28 with 7 apiece. Kenyon will look to even its record this Saturday at the Owls’ home opener against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.