AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria football team was able to keep with NCAA DI-FCS Abilene Christian well into the second quarter on Saturday before back-to-back touchdowns by the Wildcats late in the quarter thwarted any upset chances for the Blue and Green.

Ave Maria falls to 1-5 on the season while Abilene Christian moves to 4-3. Ave Maria will return to Sun Conference play next week when they host Southeastern at 1 p.m.

Clayton Uecker led AMU with 322 total yards. Uecker led the Gyrenes in rushing with 47 yards on the ground and in passing with 276 yards through the air. He finished 18-for -36 with two touchdowns and one interception.

Travis Makauskas led the Blue and Green with two receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown. Ryan O-Rourke had a team-best six receptions for 72 yards on the afternoon. Brian Byrd had the other receiving touchdown for the Gyrenes.

Andres Figueroa had seven solo tackles to go along with one tackle assists to lead the AMU defense. Dan Higginbotham has six total tackles for the Blue and Green.

Abilene Christian got the on the board first with a 36-yard field goal on their second possession of the game. On the ensuing drive by the Gyrenes, the Wildcats intercepted a Uecker pass to get the ball deep in AMU territory. On the next play, De'Andre Brown took the ball into the end zone for an 8-yard rushing touchdown.

The Gyrenes responded quickly with Uecker connecting with Makauskas for a 48-yard touchdown to cut the AMU deficit to three, 10-7.

In the second quarter, Abilene scored a rushing touchdown to take a 17-7 lead on the Blue and Green. On the following drive by Ave Maria, the Gyrenes used a 22-yard run by Kaleb Coffee and a 52-yard pass from Uecker to Frank Garcia to set up a 22-yard pass from Uecker to Brian Byrd for a touchdown.

Abilene Christian scored two touchdowns to close out the half to take a 31-14 lead into the break.

The Wildcats got a field goal early in the third and a 32-yard rushing touchdown by Brown late in the quarter to push the lead to 41-14. ACU would add 14 points in the fourth to hand the Gyrenes a 55-14 loss.

Brown led Abilene Christian with 10 carries for 58 yards and three touchdowns. Herschel Sims also had 10 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown. Two other Wildcats recorded rushing touchdowns on the afternoon.

Parker McKenzie finished 22-of-31 for ACU for 304 yards and a passing touchdown. His favorite target on the afternoon was Cade Stone who finished with eight receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown.