Adrian, MI – Both collegiate football teams in Lenawee County were victorious Saturday afternoon.
The Siena Heights football team improved to 2-2 on the season and got a Mid-State Football Association Mideast League win in the 13-10 victory over No. 22 Saint Francis (Ind.) on Homecoming.
Kaleb Jefferson finished with 98 rushing yards on 19 carries, while Jamon Benson II had 12 carries for 66 yards. Bobby Opalewski made four catches for 85 yards. Eric Williams II had five catches for 62 yards. Amir Stewart led Siena Heights with nine tackles. Armand Childs was everywhere in the defensive backfield as he broke up five passes while completing four tackles.
Hayden Lehmann was 16-31 passing for 226 yards and a touchdown pass to Michael Guyton in the second quarter, putting the Saints up 10-0 early. A 35-yard field goal by Anthony Secchi put SHU on the board early in the first quarter. The Cougars hit a field goal near the midway mark in the second quarter to get on the board and cut the Siena Heights lead to seven.
Both teams were scoreless in the third as the Saints had one drive end on downs after a fumbled hold on a field goal and a fumble deep in USF territory in the following drive left potential points off the board.
Secchi extended the lead to 10 with 4:01 left in regulation with a 33-yard field goal. The Cougars then drove the ball down the field quickly to score a 4-yard touchdown to bring things within three points with just over two minutes left.
The Saints got the ball back with 2:03 on the clock and attempted to kill the remaining time, but Saint Francis (Ind.) used their timeouts to preserve time and get the ball back with just over 90 ticks remaining.
The SHU defense stalled the Cougar offense at the 40-yard line, and Saint Francis was forced to attempt a 58-yard field goal to tie the game and missed it short.
Coach Matt Kohn said this after the game: “Our defense continues to play very well. Our defensive line was able to put pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz, which is huge. Offensively we started putting things together, running the football and throwing the football.”
The Saints host MSFA Mideast rival Concordia (Mich.) next Saturday, October 8. Kick-off for that contest is set for noon.
In Holland…
The Adrian College football team opened MIAA play at pre-season conference favorite, Hope College. The Bulldogs went on to win 22-10 to move to 4-1 on the season and begin conference play 1-0.
AC struck first on a 2-yard touchdown run from quarterback Aaron Jenkins. Later in the first quarter, Walker Evans made a 21-yard field goal to make it a 10-0 game. Hope scored its first touchdown of the game with 5:51 to go in the first half, but the Bulldogs answered on a 31-yard touchdown reception from Kenny Kujawa. At the end of the half, Hope made a 50-yard field goal to go into the break with the score 16-10 in favor of Adrian.
It was a defensive battle in the second half with Adrian scoring the only touchdown. With 5:13 left in the third quarter, Jenkins found a hole off left tackle and rushed for 38 yards to pick up his second touchdown of the game and make it 22-10.
Hope was trying to come back late in the game and took a shot at the end zone. Tyrelle Denner was there for the Bulldogs to record the interception. Later in the quarter, Donavan McCary intercepted a Hope pass, which secured the win for Adrian.
Jenkins finished the day with 185 yards passing with a touchdown, and led the Bulldogs with 118 yards rushing with two scores. Brandon Kwiatkowski led the team in tackles with nine on the day followed by eight from Deandre Jennings and eight from Waides Ashmon.
Saturday’s win snaps a five-game losing streak to Hope… with the last win against the Flying Dutchman being on October 31st, 2015.
The Bulldogs will look to extend its four-game winning streak as they host Trine University on Saturday, October 8 at 5pm.
Ian Wendt was on the call for the Adrian game, and caught-up with the winning coach, Jim Deere…
He talked about the performance by the offense…
Adrian’s defense continued to execute their game-plan…