After powering through the first half of its season behind an unstoppable ground game, the Hope College football team opened Saturday's game at Kalamazoo College by going to the air.
Senior quarterback Ben Wellman faked the handoff to senior running back Chance Strickland, then unloaded a deep throw to fifth-year senior wide receiver Grant Holtzer for a 65-yard touchdown strike 10 seconds into the game.
The Wellman-to-Holtzer connection ignited a 28-point first quarter as the Flying Dutchmen retained the traditional Wooden Shoe trophy with a 49-18 win over Kalamazoo at Angell Field.
Hope, ranked No. 18 nationally in the American Football Coaches and D3football.com polls, moved into sole possession of first place in the MIAA with the win, improving to 3-0 in the conference and 6-0 overall. The Flying Dutchmen lead three teams by one game.
Saturday was Hope's eighth consecutive win over the Hornets. The Flying Dutchmen lead the all-time series 62-35 with six ties.
"I thought we came out flying," head coach Peter Stuursma said. "We talked all week long about hitting our stride coming out of the bye week."
Wellman (Bloomington, Illinois / Bloomington HS) and sophomore Zach Trainor (Milford, Michigan/Walled Lake Western) combined to throw four touchdown passes during the game.
Holtzer (Okemos, Michigan / Okemos) caught three of them, becoming the first Hope receiver to accomplish the feat since Matt Kroll in 2015 during a 39-31 loss at Kalamazoo.
Holtzer finished with a career-high 180 yards on just four receptions.
"We wanted to get some things going within our passing game, because we can't just be a one-dimensional team [going forward}," Stuursma said. "We felt we needed to work on some of those things, and we did."
Hope's early success through the air opened the door for its high-powered rushing attack.
Strickland (Mason, Michigan / Mason) scored on touchdown runs of one and 40 yards, while senior Tyler Amos (Portage, Michigan / Portage Northern) dashed 42 yards for another score as Hope raced to a 28-0 lead before the game was 12 minutes old.
The Flying Dutchmen have outscored their opponents 111-7 during the first quarter this season.
In the second quarter, Holtzer caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Trainor. Then, after a Kalamazoo touchdown with 22 seconds left in the first half and the Hornets likely expecting Hope to run the clock out, Wellman went deep again, finding Holtzer behind the secondary for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the half, giving the Dutchmen a 42-11 lead.
The Flying Dutchmen went to the air again for their final score early in the third quarter, as Wellman found sophomore wide receiver Kaden DeHorn (Caledonia, Michigan / Caledonia) for a 17-yard touchdown pass, DeHorn's first collegiate touchdown.
While Hope was hitting on big play after big play on offense, the Flying Dutchmen defense stormed in time and again on Kalamazoo quarterback Josh Nichols, sacking him four times and forcing him countless other times to throw off target to his receivers.
Senior safety Sam Cochran (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) picked off one of Nichols' throws to set up a Hope touchdown. The Flying Dutchmen limited Kalamazoo to 159 yards total offense for the game, and have still not allowed a rushing touchdown all season.
Hope, which entered the game leading all NCAA Division III teams in total offense at 560.8 yards a contest, exceeded its season average with 598 yards of offense.
Wellman completed 8 of 12 passes for 230 yards, while Amos and Strickland led the ground attack with 86 yards on six carries and 85 yards on nine carries, respectively.
Strickland's two touchdowns give him 15 for the season, tied for the NCAA Division III lead in rushing touchdowns with Cortland State's Ethan Gallo, who had four touchdowns in the Red Dragons' 59-17 win Saturday over Alfred University.
Defensively, senior linebacker Cole Luhmann (Rochester, Michigan/Stoney Creek) led Hope with seven tackles, including four solo stops.
Senior linebacker Luke Palmer (Fort Wayne, Indiana/Homestead) added six tackles, four of them solos.
Despite remaining undefeated, Stuursma sees room for improvement. He said Hope has to cut down on penalties. The Flying Dutchmen had 120 yards in penalties Saturday.
"We had too many penalties. We have to clean that up. That's on me. That's my responsibility as the head coach, to clean that up," Stuursma said. "I told our guys afterward … winning in college football is hard, so we're not going to give it back. We're going to learn from it, and we're going to get ready to roll because we have a huge Homecoming week next week."
Hope will host Adrian on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 2 p.m. at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium as part of the One Big Weekend homecoming and family weekend celebration.
No. 18 Hope Opens and Closes First Half with Long TD Passes, Beats Kalamazoo
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241019_hvpn.xml
2024
Hope
49
Kalamazoo
18
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 16 Hope (6-0) | 28 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 49 |
| Kalamazoo (4-2) | 0 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 18 |
Oct 19, 2024