DeLand, Fla.— The Stetson University football team was defeated by the University of San Diego 48-7 at Spec Martin Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Hatters fell to 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Pioneer Football League (PFL), and the loss ends Stetson's two game home winning streak. San Diego improved to 6-2 overall and 5-0 in the Pioneer Football League. The Toreros win now gives them 18 consecutive victories against PFL opponents, a streak that dates back to the 2015 season.
"Obviously, they are the class of the league, there is a reason they won seventeen straight Pioneer Football League games," head coach Roger Hughes said.  "To beat a team like that, we knew we were going to have to play very well."

Junior quarterback Colin McGovern completed 15 of 21 passes for 152 yards, including a seven yard pass in the first quarter to Bryce Blackmon which set a new Stetson record for most passing yards in a season by a Stetson quarterback in the current era. He broke the previous record of 1845 yards set in 2014. He currently has passed for 1949 yards this season.
 
Junior tight end Donald Parham led the receiving core with a game-high 97 receiving yards on five catches. Junior running back Arkee Brown ran the ball five times for 18 yards for the Hatters.
 
Defensively, graduate linebacker Jeb Boudreaux and senior defensive back Eric Martin had a game co-high 14 tackles, while Martin added a pair of pass breakups for Stetson. Freshman defensive back JJ Henderson had 10 tackles along with two pass breakups.
 
San Diego was led by quarterback Anthony Lawrence who completed 19 of 27 passes for 271 yards. Wide receiver Justin Priest had five catches for 91 yards, while running back Emilio Martinez ran the ball 11 times for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Defensively for the Toreros, Colton Georgi had seven tackles, while Max Michaels had six.
 
San Diego took the initial lead on its opening drive in the first quarter. Lawrence found wide receiver Michael Keating on a 15-yard pass to make the score 7-0. The Hatters though found the end zone late in the first quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Gordon Stetson, capping a six play, 60 yard drive that made the score 7-7.
 
The visiting Toreros though ran off 41 unanswered points over the final three quarters, en route to the win. San Diego scored on all three of its possessions in the second quarter, including a field goal as time expired to lead 24-7 at halftime.
 
"I think we got into a situation where we had a nice drive, Donald Parham made a couple of big plays on throws from Colin McGovern, to go down and score, and then defensively we just couldn't get off the field," Hughes said. "We had how many third-and-mediums and we couldn't get off, and then we had a couple of third-and-longs and we got a couple of interference penalties that kept their drives alive."  
 
Stetson went three-and-out on all four drives it had in the third quarter, while San Diego scored on all three of its possessions and pushed ahead to a 45-7 lead before the start of the fourth quarter.
 
Stetson reserve quarterback, sophomore Cole Martin played the fourth quarter and completed seven of 12 passes for 80 yards. He found freshman wide receiver Bensley Bornelus on a 45-yard pass to highlight the period. Bornelus ended the day with three receptions for 51 yards to finish second behind Parham in receiving yards. Blackmon added five catches for 19 yards, while Justin Jordan had two catches for 18 yards.
 
On the ground, Brown's 18 yards rushing, which all came in the fourth quarter led the Hatters, who were outrushed by San Diego 212-30.
 
We were having difficulty (running the ball), but that is something we have experienced all year," Hughes said. "Our run game has not been stellar, and we work on it all the time, but we are not running the ball very efficiently.  That had improved over the last four games, but this week we did not run the ball well again. For us to be as effective as we want to be, we have to run the ball more effectively, and so we will continue to work on improving it."

The Hatters return to action next Saturday for their final home game of the 2017 season for homecoming and senior day when they face Butler University at Spec Martin Stadium at 4 p.m.