North Manchester, Ind. – The Alma College football team earned its second win of the season with a 47-23 victory over the Manchester University Spartans on Saturday. The Scots improve to 2-0 for the 2021 season.
Alma College started strong with junior defensive back Will Hampton intercepting the Spartan's quarterback 3-pays into the first drive. The Scots were the first to get on the board with a 28-yard pick-six by sophomore defensive back, Brady Douma 8 minutes into the first half. Manchester briefly took the lead in the 2nd quarter, but the Scots immediately responded with Devon Frenchko returning the kick-off 100 yards for a touchdown.
In the second half of the game, the fight for the lead continued with Manchester scoring an 11-yard run to make the score 16-12. The Scots changed the pace of the game by scoring 28 unanswered points in 3 minutes and 35 seconds. The stretch of unanswered points began with a 6-play, 82-yeard drive that was finished by a 19-yard run by sophomore running back, Tyler Walters. The other points included completed passes to Nathan Goralski, Elijah Jackson, and Nate Webb.
The Spartans tried to come back in the fourth quarter with a touchdown but it was not enough. The Scots' final touchdown was a 99-yard kick-off return from Devon Frenchko.
Coach Jason Couch said, "The game didn't start with the energy that we wanted but the Scots brought it in the second half. This was a great team win. All aspects of the game scored for us, offense, defense, and special teams." Some of the standouts Couch highlighted were Brady Douma (two interceptions, one for a TD, 5 tackles, and recovered two live balls on kickoff), Devon Frenchko (two kick returns for a touchdown), Grant Pratt (9 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT in his first collegiate start).
The 2-0 Scots will face Anderson University (IN) at 6 p.m. on Bahlke field Saturday, September 18th.
