The No. 9 Baker University football team rallied for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against No. 5 Missouri Valley College, but it was too little, too late as the Wildcats fell to the Vikings by the score of 31-17.

The Wildcats found themselves trailing early after a fumble and a blocked punt on their first two drives led to 14 points for the Vikings.

“We lost it early,” head coach Mike Grossner said. “With the blocked punt, that was an easy seven points for them and then we turned the ball over three or four times in the first half. You can’t do that against No. 5 in the country.”

The ‘Cats got their first points on a 30-yard field goal from senior Steven Stewart to cut the Vikings’ lead to 14-3. BU had an opportunity just before halftime to make it a one-possession game, but Missouri Valley’s LaQuentin Black picked off junior Jake Morse. The turnover led to Jacoby Bellard’s second touchdown catch of the game and gave the Vikings a 21-3 advantage at halftime.

“I thought that was the biggest pivotal moment in the ballgame early at the end of the second quarter,” Grossner said.

The Vikings’ momentum carried over into the second half as they scored 10 points on their first two drives after the break.

Despite the 31-3 deficit, Baker did not back down. The BU offense found life through junior Dillon Baxter and backup quarterback Sam Vossen in the fourth quarter. Baxter punched it in from the 1-yard line for BU’s first touchdown. Junior Austin Hamm then forced a fumble around midfield to give the ball back to the BU offense. After two first down runs from Baxter, Vossen threw a touchdown pass to senior Kyle Bolton to trim MVC’s lead to 31-17.

Vossen and the Wildcats got the ball back with under two minutes left, but they turned the ball over on downs deep in Vikings’ territory to seal the game.

The WIldcats will try to bounce back from their first loss of the season when they face No. 13 MidAmerica Nazarene at 6 p.m. Saturday in Olathe.