HILLSBORO, Kan. – Fall is in the air and Saturday's Homecoming celebrations were a perfect way to welcome in the season. Bluejay Football did some welcoming of their own on Saturday as they played host to Sterling College in front of a sea of Bluejay faithful at Joel H. Wiens Stadium.
 
Tabor came into Saturday's contest fresh off a bye week and still riding the momentum of their massive rivalry win at Bethel two weeks ago, while Sterling came into Hillsboro still feeling the sting of a 59-14 loss at the hands of Friends two weeks prior.
 
The Warriors drew the first blood towards the end of the first half, finding the end zone with a 12-yard pass from Jordan Slocum to Ryan Stucky, leaving just 19 seconds on the clock.
 
Nathan Heilig put the Bluejays on the board mid-way through the 3^rd quarter with a 20-yard field goal to cut TC's deficit to four.
 
Sterling struck again towards the end of the 3^rd quarter, this time off a ground attack, only for the Bluejays to answer with their first touchdown, courtesy of a huge one-yard rush by Moises Haynes, three minutes into the 4th. 
 
TC found themselves down by two scores once again, as the Warriors posted their third touchdown of the afternoon with just over eight minutes left to play.
 
If anyone found themselves counting the Bluejays out after Sterling took an 11-point lead, Willie Green responded in an effort to prove them wrong, connecting on a beautiful 14-yard dime to Haynes and successfully converting for two points afterward, putting Tabor within a field goal. Green followed up his previous efforts, finding Deonte Hill in the endzone for a 22-yard pass completion with just 24 seconds left, giving the Bluejays a four-point advantage. The Warriors were unable to respond, giving Tabor alums an extra-special Homecoming gift.
 
"Anytime you have alumni back on campus and you're able to win a game the way we did and the way we have the past two years, it's nothing but positive", remarked Head Coach Mike Gardner.
 
"I never felt like our kids wavered much, for the longest time we have relied so heavily on our defense and field position, our defense played their hearts out, but we did not have field position like we normally do, which put us in a hole a couple of times, but to come out of that and put together significant drives was awesome."
 
With the win, the Bluejays move to 3-4 on the season and get off to a 1-0 start in Bissell Division play.
 
"The reality is, we have 16 quarters to go, if we win the majority of those 16 quarters, there's no telling what we can do at the end", said Gardner.
 
Tabor returns to the road as they head to Kansas City on Saturday afternoon for this season's meeting with Avila. Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm and live stats will be available. The game will be broadcast live on the KCAC Network.
 
Be sure to stay up to date with all information regarding Bluejay Athletics by following us on X at @gotaborbluejays, on Instagram and Facebook @taborbluejays, and on our official athletic website, taborbluejays.com.
 
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).