Alma, Mich. - Playing its final game of the 2015 season, the Alma College football team suffered a 47-29 defeat at the hands of Olivet College at Bahlke Field. Alma finishes the season with a record of 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, while the Comets (9-1, 5-1) secured a share of the MIAA Championship.

Olivet scored on its first two drives to take a 12-0 lead before Alma found the end zone late in the first quarter. Starting a fire on its own 31-yard line, sophomore quarterback Dylan Zaborowski (Jackson, Mich./Michigan Center) hit senior wide receiver Erik Hines (Menominee, Mich./Menominee) for a 69-yard touchdown pass to bring the Scots within five points at 12-7.

Olivet responded with three straight touchdowns by Damorria Lilly, who scored from one, six, and 22 yards out to help the Comets pull away and make the score 33-7 early into the third quarter. Lilly had four TDs and 210 yards rushing on the afternoon. 

Junior running back Nick Sullivan (Flushing, Mich./Flint Powers Catholic) made the score 33-14 late in the third quarter when he found the end zone on a 13-yard run. After Olivet responded with a touchdown of its own, senior wide receiver Sean McDonald (Gladwin, Mich./Gladwin) caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Zaborowski in the fourth quarter and make the score 40-21.

Olivet added a late touchdown, but the Scots put the final points on the board when Hines scored his second of the day, this time on a 51-yard pass from senior quarterback Brett Luplow (Clare, Mich./Clare). During the extra-point attempt, senior quarterback Derek Talaga (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) found senior defensive end Terry Calgon (Jackson, Mich./East Jackson) for the all-senior two-point conversion.

Zaborowski finished the day 12-for-28 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns, while Hines led the Scots with 163 yards and two scores on seven catches. Sullivan had 11 carries for 67 yards and a score, and established the school record for most carries in a season.

Senior Chris Johnson (Sunnyvale, Calif./Homestead) paced Alma with 16 tackles as the Comets posted nearly 500 yards of total offense, including 333 on the ground. Senior Justin Thelen (Westphalia, Mich./Pewamo-Westphalia) also contributed 15 tackles, while sophomore Cameron Lee (Lansing, Mich./Waverly) added 11.

Calagon finished with 10 tackles, including two tackles for loss to set the single-season school record for tackles for loss.

The Scots finish the season with a .500 record for the first time since 2009, and finished in fifth place in the MIAA, two spot ahead of where they were projected to finish by the league's head coaches. Alma will graduate 16 seniors from the program.

NOTES

• The Scots, with 373 yards of total offense, became one of 11 teams in school history to post more than 4,000 yards of offense in a single season. The offensive output by the 2015 team was 10th-best in school history.

• An Alma receiver recorded a 100-yard game for the sixth straight game.

• Daniel Hugan had five receptions for 52 yards, bringing his season total to 71 catches for the year. That mark is the most catches by an Alma receiver since Joe Cline had a school-record 89 in 2006, and ranks fourth all-time.

• Zac Peterson had eight tackles and finished the year with 104 stops. He is one of only nine players in Alma history to record 100 or more tackles in a single campaign.

• Terry Calagon set the school record for tackles for loss in a season, finishing the year with 19.5. The old mark was 18, set by Tony Galarno in 2010. Calagon finishes his career as the all-time leader in tackles for loss (49.5) and sacks (22.5). He also had 288 tackles in his career.

• Erik Hines finished his career catching a pass in every game during his sophomore, junior, and senior campaigns, a stretch of 30 games. Hines recorded 160 or more yards in three of his last games, and finishes his career with 1,906 yards and 15 touchdowns on 143 catches. Hines ranks seventh all-time for receiving yards, ninth for catches, and 14th for TD catches. Hines is one of only 12 players in Alma history to catch nine or more TDs in a single season.

• Nick Sullivan finished the year with a team-high 70 points, the most by an Alma player since 2008. Sullivan's point total was the 12th-highest in school history, while his 881 yards rushing this season was ninth-best in Alma history. Sullivan finished the year with a school-record 163 carries, topping the old mark of 157, set by James Edington in 2004.

• Brett Luplow threw a touchdown pass in his final two games, the only two of his career.

• Edward Inglesbee had a career-high 281 yards punting on seven kicks for a 40.1-yard average. Inglesbee finished the year with an average of 37.8 yards to rank sixth all-time.

• Chris Johnson's 16 tackles were a career-high.

• Justin Thelen's 15 tackles were a career-high.

• Cameron Lee had a career-high 11 tackles.

• Jacob Chittenden's 10 tackles were a career-high.

• Joe Hernandez tied a career-high with two stops.

QUOTES

Head Coach Greg Pscodna

On the game ...

"We got off to a slow start for some reason and we couldn't make a play early on to stop Olivet. Give credit to them, they came out and took it to us right off the bat. We were always playing from behind and made some mistakes and a good football team like Olivet took advantage of that."

On facing the co-MIAA champions in back-to-back games ...

"They are two very good football teams. Albion won the league and will represent the MIAA in the national tournament, and they have a great offense, and Olivet is not far behind. They both had 30 seniors on their team and that makes a huge difference. With us having 16, we've just got to keep working at it, get better, and start working to get better for next year."

On the state of the program after four years ...

"We've got a foundation, and that's what I told the kids after the game. I thanked the seniors for laying the foundation of winning football again and now it's time for our underclassmen to start building a championship. That's going to be a lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment from those guys. We've also got to get better football players in here - bigger kids, faster kids, and stronger kids - and that's what we're looking for as we head out to recruit."