Alma, MI – Alma College Football opened their season on Saturday against #17 Wisconsin-River Falls. In a battle of high tempo offenses, the Scots were unable to complete a late comeback, falling 41-35.
The opening drives of the game resulted in punts from both teams, before UWRF was able to find the endzone first. Leading 6-0, the guests took advantage of a turnover on downs and scored again to lead 13-0. The Scots answered the bell this time, using a 9-play, 69 yard drive to get on the board via a 25 yard touchdown pass from
Carter St. John to
Jordan Williams. However, the Falcons scored again on the ensuing possession, and led 20-7 after the first quarter.
Alma was held off the scoreboard in the second quarter, with UWRF managing to score a pair of touchdowns, and knocking on the door for a third before an interception in the endzone put things to a halt. At half, the score was 27-7.
The Alma offense roared to life out of halftime, going 75 yards in 11 plays to score on the opening possession, capped by a St. John rushing score form 5 yards out. River Falls answered with a touchdown of their own, followed by a pair of punts, and an Alma interception. The Falcons scored off the turnover, nearly putting the game out of reach, but Alma needed just 3 minutes and 9 plays to keep the game alive, with
Devon Frenchko leaving his defender on the turf using a double move to haul in a 27 yard score. Forcing a RF punt, Alma scored one more touchdown via a Lotterman screen pass, but left too little time on the clock to complete the comeback.
Carter St. John was 25-38 for 257 yards passing, with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. The Scots found tough sledding in the run game, with
Eddie Williams leading all Alma rushers at 50 yards on 18 carries.
Ty Lotterman caught a team high 11 passes for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Defensively,
Jett King, Eli Jackson, and
Ryan Kugelman led the way with 9 tackles apiece.
Ryan West broke up 3 passes and recorded the endzone interception, and
Bryce Fredenburg also snagged an INT.
The Scots are back in action next week with a road matchup at Denison.
