Loyola sophomore quarterback Leon Kinnard (in action from earlier this season) scored three touchdowns to lead Loyola to a 26-0 win over Calvert Hall, in yesterday’s 87th annual Turkey Bowl.  (Photo by John Strohsacker)

For
all the talk of rivalry and the possibility that anything can happen in
this storied series, the 87th annual Turkey Bowl battle between Loyola
and Calvert Hall turned out largely as expected, yesterday at M&T
Bank Stadium, as Loyola sophomore quarterback Leon Kinnard turned the
locally televised contest into his own personal showcase while leading
the Dons to a 26-0 shutout victory.

Kinnard, who was the
offensive catalyst throughout Loyola’s 9-1 season, made one big play
after the next, both on the ground and through the air, and rushed for
three touchdowns.  The victory allowed Loyola to finish at 4-1 in the
MIAA A Conference and claim a share of the the league title along with
McDonogh and Gilman, which also posted 4-1 conference records.

After
seeing its initial drive, a 13-play, 58-yard effort, stall at the
Calvert Hall 10-yard line, Loyola went 54 yards on its second
possession to grab a 7-0 lead with 3:02 to play in the opening
quarter.  On the five-play march, Kinnard completed two passes for 36
yards and rushed two times for 12 more yards, including a one-yard
sneak for the touchdown.

Calvert Hall, which had some success
running the ball between the 20’s throughout the game, followed with an
impressive 11-play drive, but Loyola finally halted it on downs, at its
own 24, and quickly drove back down field for the first of two second
quarter scores.

Kinnard again made several big plays along the
way, including a critical 28-yard, third down conversion pass to senior
Michael Horne.  On the play, Kinnard calmly stood in the pocket and
lofted a perfectly thrown pass into the hands of Horne, who was running
free up the center of the field.  Kinnard also connected with Emmit
Kellar for a 20-yard touchdown pass on the drive, only to see it
negated by offsetting penalties.  Undeterred by the setback, four plays
later, Kinnard scooted around left end, spun out of a tackle at
three-yard line and went into the end zone for a 13-0 Loyola lead.

Kinnard,
who finished with 141 yards passing and 76 yards rushing, added another
one-yard sneak, with 46-seconds left in the half, to virtually seal the
outcome.

Defensively, Loyola also came up big.  Sophomore
linebacker Matt Heacock delivered several big hits and hauled in an
interception.  Kellar also racked up the tackles and recovered a
fumble, while junior Bubba Harris intercepted two passes, returning the
second one six-yards for the game’s final score, with less than a
minute to play in the fourth quarter.

Calvert Hall (0-5, 1-8)
proved competitive, as juniors Kevin Graves (76 yards rushing) and Dan
Zentz both had success on the ground, but turnovers and the inability
to make a big play in the red zone ultimately doomed the Cardinals.

Yesterday’s
victory was Loyola’s fourth straight in this series and the Dons
stretched their all-time edge to 46-33-8.  It was also the first
shutout since Loyola won the the 1995 game, 21-0.