AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University football team continued their giant-killing ways on Saturday night, knocking off No. 25 Keiser 10-7 in the NAIA Game of the Week at Gyrene Field. The Gyrenes are now in sole possession of first place in the Mid-South Conference Sun Division, and claimed their third victory of the season over a nationally ranked team.

The Gyrene defense forced five turnovers in the victory, a fact that head coach Joe Patterson said was obviously crucial in AMU's fifth win of the season.

"The defense has been playing very well for this past month, and all the credit goes to them for hanging in there all the way to the very end," Patterson said.

The game was a defensive struggle, with neither team scoring in the first half. The Gyrene defense forced three turnovers in the opening 30 minutes, intercepting Keiser quarterback Eli Mathews twice and jumping on a muffed punt. Ave Maria's offense drove into Keiser territory four times in the half, but could not come away with points. The only scoring opportunity was a second quarter field goal that was blocked.

On the second Gyrene drive of the second half, Ave Maria finally struck for the first points of the game. After the second interception of the game from John Preyer set the Gyrenes up at the Seahawk 49-yard line, AMU drove the 49 yards in ten plays. On the tenth play, Quino Mauricette scored from three yards out to give Ave Maria a 7-0 lead.

Another Gyrene interception, this one from Kobi Bowers, set up what proved to be the game-winning field goal. Starting on the Keiser 31 yard-line, Ave drove into the redzone, eventually moving to the Keiser seven. Brandon Butry connected on a 23 yard field goal, increasing Ave Maria's lead to 10-0 with 13:59 to play in the game. 

Keiser was unable to score on their next drive, despite moving the ball to the AMU 1-yard line. On the 13th play of a drive, the Seahawks faced fourth-and-goal from the one. The fourth down snap sailed over the head of the quarterback, and Keiser was kept off the scoreboard.

The Seahawks pulled within three on a 96-yard touchdown drive, with culminated on a one-yard touchdown run from Marques Burgess. Keiser got the ball back with 1:08 to play down by three, but the Gyrenes were able to force a turnover on downs to preserve the victory.

Offensively, the Gyrenes attempted 51 rushes to just 15 passes. Mauricette was the game's leading rusher, racking up 62 yards with a touchdown. Will Tate found six different receivers on his nine completions, with no one making more than two catches. Defensively, Preyer led the way with eight tackles, two interceptions, and a forced fumble.

With the victory, the Gyrenes can clinch a share of the Sun Division championship with a victory in either of their final two games of the season, on the road against Webber International University and at home against Warner University. Wins in both games would give Ave Maria the outright championship, and would set the Gyrenes up for a possible berth in the NAIA Tournament.