The seventh-ranked Lindenwood football team played for the win against top-ranked Carroll, but its two-point conversion pass fell incomplete giving the Saints a 38-37 victory over the Lions in the NAIA Championship Series Semifinals.

Lindenwood’s defense stuffed Carroll at the goal line on a fourth-and-goal play to give the offense the ball back with 5:43 remaining and the Lions trailing 38-31. The Lions then went on an 18-play, 99-yard drive to get within one point with 38 seconds remaining. The Lions choose to go for the win against the NAIA’s elite program, but Ben Kisner was unable to hook up with Rudy Fleming for the go-ahead score.

That final drive nearly gave the Lions an upset victory after they trailed by as many as 21 points in the second-half in the back-and-forth ballgame.

Lindenwood’s offense started out slow, going three-and-out on its first two drives, and Carroll scored the first 10 points of the ballgame. The Lions were in danger of another quick drive when Ben Kisner completed a third-and-18 pass to Rudy Fleming for 22 yards to give the offense a spark. They went on to score a touchdown on that drive when Kisner completed an eight-yard pass to Austin Bortle.

The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by Carroll and the Lions recovered near midfield. Halley Ferrell’s 24-yard field goal after that tied the game at 10 apiece. The rest of the half belonged to the Saints, however, as their running game added two more touchdowns and kept Lindenwood’s potent offense off the field.

The second-half started out on a high note for Lindenwood when Nate Orlando returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to make the score 24-17 Carroll. The Saints responded with two rushing scores on their next two drives. That marked five straight touchdowns when Carroll’s offense touched the ball and gave the Saints a 38-17 lead with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter.

Lindenwood put together two quick drives on offense to make it a one score game. Marcel Thompson scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Kisner, and Orlando scored on a 26-yard rushing touchdown. The defense also buckled down, forcing two straight punts and then a turnover on downs when Carroll could not score on two straight rushes from the one-yard line. That set up the Lions’ 99-yard scoring drive. Kisner completed eight passes on the drive including two on fourth-down. The final fourth-down was a four-yard touchdown pass to Fleming.

Carroll won the game on the ground, rushing for 305 yards and five touchdowns. The Lions had trouble getting the Saints offense off the field, as they completed nine-of-14 third-down conversions. Lindenwood had 131 yards rushing and 223 yards passing, both higher numbers than Carroll normally gives up. The Lions also allowed just one sack against the number one sack team in the country.

Kisner threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns, and was picked off once. Thompson caught six passes for 73 yards and Fleming had five receptions for 41 yards. Dario Camacho was the team’s rushing leader with 84 yards. Ryan Zimmerman led the defense with seven tackles, including one for a seven-yard loss.

Carroll was led by John Camino who rushed for 218 yards and four touchdowns. Gabe Le had the other rushing touchdown and had 69 yards on the ground. Matt Ritter, in his first collegiate start, threw for 115 yards and completed 13-of-17 passes. Travis Brown caught four passes for 41 yards. Owen Koeppen led the Saints with nine tackles, and Cody Lamb had the team’s one interception.

Game Notes: Lindenwood ends its season with an 11-1 overall record … Carroll improves to 13-0 and advances to the NAIA Championship Series Finals versus Sioux Falls on Dec. 20 in Rome, Ga. … the Lions tied school records in 2008 for most wins in a season and most consecutive wins, and reached the NAIA Semifinals for the first time in school history … Ben Kisner ends his collegiate career with 30 wins as the starting quarterback, 69 touchdown passes, and 8,556 passing yards.