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The Malone University football team rolled to a lop-sided 69-0 victory in its home opener against NCAA Division III Anna Maria (MA) College on Saturday afternoon at Fawcett Stadium. The Pioneers overpowered the AMCATS on the ground, establishing new school records with 444 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. Malone scored TD's on seven of its nine first-half possessions to build an insurmountable 48-0 lead at intermission, marking the most points ever scored by Malone in one half of football. The Pioneers then tacked on three more TD's after the break to increase their margin of victory to 69 points, the largest in school history. Malone's record improved to 1-2 with the non-conference win while Anna Maria dropped to 0-3.

Running Back Justin James scored the Pioneers' first two rushing touchdowns of the game, the first from nine yards out and the second from eight. Fellow running back Emil Chambliss made it 21-0 with a seven-yard TD run before tight end Tom Ferron concluded the first-quarter barrage with a 17-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Mike Karls.

After a fumbled Anna Maria snap, slot back Ryan Barnett opened the second-quarter scoring with a seven-yard dash to the endzone to increase Malone's advantage to 34-0 (extra point was no good). Running back Markus McFolling then got in on the action, powering his way past the goal line on second-quarter TD runs of 15 yards and one yard.

The Pioneers picked up right where they left off in the third quarter as, on the first play from scrimmage, James broke through the AMCAT line and rumbled 61 yards to the endzone to make it 55-0. Malone then wrapped up the offensive assault with a two-yard TD plunge by Chambliss with five minutes remaining in the third quarter and a 19-yard TD run by Barnett six minutes into final stanza.

On the afternoon, the Pioneers held a 521-150 advantage in total yards, forced two AMCAT fumbles, and blocked a pair of punts.

Barnett totaled 130 rushing yards on just nine attempts (14.4 average) with two touchdowns. James followed closely with 129 rushing yards on 11 attempts (11.7 average) and three scores. Chambliss gained 87 rushing yards on seven attempts (12.4 average) with two touchdowns while McFolling picked up 58 rushing yards on six attempts (9.7 average) and tallied the other two Pioneer rushing TD's.

Karls completed all four of his squad's passing attempts on the day for 77 yards, including the 17-yard TD toss to Ferron.

Defensive back Anthony Pavia posted a team-high 10 tackles to go with one pass break-up. Linebacker Brandon Commodore followed with seven tackles with one tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and a pass break-up. Defensive lineman Trevor Lyne posted five tackles with one sack and a blocked punt.

For Anna Maria, quarterback Santino Simone completed 11 of 22 passes for 73 yards. Running back Jean Batista gained 40 rushing yards while fellow running back Robert Small caught three passes for 28 yards. Linebacker Mike Joseph paced the AMCAT defense with six tackles and one fumble recovery.

The Pioneers will be idle next weekend and will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 2nd when they begin Mid-States Football Association Mideast League play with a 12:00 p.m. contest at the University of Saint Francis, the 11th ranked team in the most recent NAIA Football Poll.

Malone Notes: The Pioneers previous record for rushing yards was also set against Anna Maria as the squad piled up 442 in a 65-10 road victory last season…Malone just missed tying the school record for points scored on Saturday, finishing one shy of the mark which came in a 70-7 thumping of Tri-State (IN) in 1995…The prior Pioneer record for points scored in a half, 42, had been accomplished on three occasions…Saturday marked just the seventh time in school history and the first time since 1999 that Malone had shutout an opponent.