(ST. JOSEPH) –St. Joe and Loy Norrix were the only two teams in the SMAC Conference to be undefeated heading into Friday's contest, and thanks to the Bears overpowering offensive at quick attack and a smothering defense,St. Joe is the only unbeaten left after a 35-0 win at Steve Upton Field at Dickinson Stadium.

St. Joe's attack started early as Dylan Chapman opened the scoring just 62 seconds into the game on a 2 yard touchdown run. Chapman also added the 2 point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

St. Joe made it 14-0 on the next drive, after the Bears defense forced a 3 and out for Norrix and a bad punt set up St. Joe at the 37 yard line, the Bears needed 8 plays to find the endzone when Davis Crossman threw a 2 yard touchdown pass to Bobby DeLong.

Crossman and DeLong would connect again early in the 2nd quarter on a 7 yard pass and a 22-0 lead, as Crossman carried the ball himself for the 2 point conversion.

St. Joe's defense held Norrix from converting on 4th down at their own 9 yard line. St. Joe would score again as Crossman threw his third touchdown pass of the game, this one was from 51 yards to Nate Schmidt. The 2 point conversion failed, but St. Joe increased the lead to 28-0.

The Bears rounded out the scoring with 1:28 left in the first half as Chapman scored on a 15 yard touchdown run, and combined with Jace Hopkin's PAT kick, St. Joe took a 35-0 lead into halftime.

The second half was played under the MHSAA 35 point "mercy rule" meaning the clock would not stop. But the Bears were able to get every dressed player into game action and held off a final push by Loy Norrix at the 2 yard line to preserve the shutout against the Knight's starters.

Crossman was 6 of 10 passing for 109 yards and three touchdowns and 1 interception. Schmidt had 99 yardss receiving and the 1 score while DeLong 2 catches were for 9 yards, but both were toucdhdowns.

On Defense, Isaac Codde had 6 tackles to lead the Bears, but only played in the first half with the game out of hand at halftime.

St. Joe takes their 3-0 record on the road next week as the Bears travel to Gull Lake for the first time since 2016, Gull Lake is 0-3 following a 55-0 home loss to Kalamazoo Central.

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