Granville, OH – #15/16 Alma College Football hit the road on Saturday to take on Denison University on Saturday afternoon in nonconference action. Alma was victorious by a final of 38-30.
The game kicked off with Denison sending their offense out to the field. The Big Red went 15 plays and 69 yards eating up over 9 minutes of the first quarter, only to be held to a field goal by the Alma defense. The Scots responded with a 12-play, 83 yard drive resulting in a go-ahead
Carter St. John 4-yard rushing touchdown plus a
Zach Poff 2-point conversion. After one quarter, Alma led 8-3.
The second quarter saw the Big Red embark on another 10-play drive that got them another field goal, pulling the score to 8-6 at 11:04 to go, the closest that the hosts would get to the lead for the rest of the game. Alma answered with a
Kahleel Brown 2-yard TD reception to cap a 10-play drive of their own. After another Big Red field goal, the Scots struck again immediately, needing just 84 seconds to go 75 yards to the endzone, with Poff hauling in a 9-yard pass to hit paydirt. Denison stalled and punted, and with just 0:08 on the clock, Alma pulled off a St. John to
Ty Lotterman to
Devon Frenchko hook-and-ladder that saw the Scots rumble 69 yards to the endzone. At halftime, Alma was in control 28-9.
Both teams traded interceptions to open the second half, with Alma throwing a pick before getting the ball back just 6 plays later. The field position that the visitors has meant that they needed to go just 3 yards to the endzone, and needed only 1 play to do it with
Davin Reif scampering in to the endzone. At the end of the third, Alma led 35-9.
Denison mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring touchdowns on 3 straight drives while limiting the Scots to just one
Jace Heck 26-yard field goal. As the Big Red pulled closer, Alma was still able to chew up roughly half of the final 15 minutes, and held on to the final onside kick attempt after a short scramble for the ball to ice the game. In the end, the Scots ran out 38-30 winners.
Carter St. John was 17-29 passing with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception while racking up 277 yards.
Eddie Williams was a beast on the ground, averaging 7.1 yards per carry on the way to 92 yards to lead Scots rushers.
Zach Poff was the leading receiver on the day with 113 yards and a TD grab on 8 catches.
Defensively,
Jett King was the tackles leader for the Scots with 9 total on the afternoon.
Evan Eastman led the rush with 2 sacks, and
Brock Beaudrie registered the lone pick for Alma.
With just one week of non-conference action remaining, the Scots head up to take on Division II Northern Michigan next week.
