Published: September 12, 2009 12:41 am      

FOOTBALL: Peru scores breakthrough victory

Bengals end stretch of frustration with 27-14 win over Titans

PERU — It had been three years since Peru had hung any offense on Taylor, suffering a trio of shutouts at the hands of the Titans dating back to 2006.

That changed quickly on Friday night as the Bengal Tigers ran wild, piling up 387 yards of total offense — 262 on the ground — in toppling the Titans 27-14. The win moved Peru to 1-3 (1-1 MIC) while Taylor fell to 0-2 in conference play and 1-3 overall.

“We started fast [Friday],” said Tiger coach Bill Skelton, who saw his team go ahead 14-0 in the game’s first 15 minutes. “We followed that up by sputtering in the middle, but we finished strong and that was good to see.”

Indeed, despite Peru’s quick start, the Titans found themselves with a chance to make things close late. Trailing 21-14 early in the fourth quarter, Taylor embarked on a four-plus minute drive following Pete Spitznagle’s missed 30-yard field goal. The Titans got as far as the Peru 30-yard line via one fourth- and two third-down conversions before Christian Harvey’s fumble with 4:41 remaining gave the ball back to Peru.

It was all Tigers from there, as Travis Sheets put the exclamation point on by scampering 39 yards for his second score of the evening.

“It’s a different ballgame if we don’t fumble on our last drive,” Taylor coach Josh Ousley said. “We played terrible in the first quarter. That was really the difference because if we don’t give up 14 points so early, we win the game.

“We’ve got to learn how to get ready for ballgames. We haven’t been ready to play one of them yet. You can’t win football games when you get behind early and miss opportunities.”

The Titans did miss a chance to put pressure on Peru prior to their last drive, after driving inside the Tiger 10-yard line midway through the third quarter. After a Walter Wheeler rush went nowhere, Taylor saw three consecutive Austen Conwell passes fall incomplete, handing the ball back to Peru.

“Our defense made key stops when they had to,” Skelton said. “I thought Taylor played well. Just a couple weeks ago, we were still having drills to find out who wanted to play for us. We’re glad to get out of here with a win.”

Ben Meadows led Taylor with a three catches for 87-yards and a touchdown. Conwell was 8-of-20 for 125 yards, a score and an interception.

Sheets led Peru with 13 rushes for 153 yards.

Taylor hosts Northwestern Friday while Peru visits Cass.