Oct. 18, 2008

Final Stats

ALBION, Mich. - The Bulldog football team played a very physical game at Albion on Saturday and came away with their fifth straight win (5-1, 2-0 MIAA) by the final score of 28-6. The Bulldogs have now beaten the Britons for seven straight years and today's game was the largest margin of victory over the last seven games.

The Bulldogs took their opening possession and marched right down the field in four plays covering 78 yards. Senior Troy Niblock found senior Patrick Reagan over the middle for a 60-yard touchdown pass on a play where Reagan broke a tackle near the Albion 40 and outraced the secondary for a 7-0 lead at the 10:01 mark of the opening quarter.

The Bulldogs added to their lead with 2:25 left in the second quarter as Reagan and Niblock hooked up again, this time from 25 yards on a seam route that was a perfect thrrow between two defenders. Adrian led 14-0 at halftime and held Albion to minus two yards of rushing in the first half. Adrian had 225 yards at the break including 129 passing yards on just four completions.

Neither team scored in the third quarter and both teams entered the fourth quarter with anyone's game to win. Adrian took further control of the game early in the fourth as they drove 92 yards in 11 plays, all running plays by the Bulldogs, and were helped out by a 15-yard face mask. Freshman Jared Edwards capped off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run, his first on the ground, with 7:40 left in the game to give Adrian a 21-0 lead.

Albion got a little momentum late in the fourth as Dave Wunderlich blocked a Kevin Allaer punt and it was picked up by Robbie Moffett and returned 12 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-6 with 4:42 left. The Britons got a three-and-out from their defense and Adrian had to punt but Jacob Lee touched the ball near his own sideline and the ball was recovered by Spencer Whittington at the Albion 39-yard line. Adrian took full advantage of the mistake and Edwards scored his second rushing touchdown of the day from seven yards out to give the Bulldogs a 28-6 win. Edwards scored with 53 seconds left which finished off a six-play drive which lasted 3:13.

The Adrian defense played a great game as Albion went 0-for-3 in the red zone for the game. Albion's Mychal Galla missed three field goals on the day as he misfired from 39 yards twice and 35 yards once. The second field goal was blocked by senior Bobby Watson who finished with five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. For the game, Adrian held Albion to 18 rushing yards on 22 attempts. The Bulldogs carried the ball 53 times for 239 rushing yards. Adrian nearly had two guys over 100 yards as Myke Johnson carried 19 times for 103 yards and Niblock carried 20 times for 99 yards.

Harry Bailey tallied eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and also forced a fumble on the sack for the Bulldogs. Adrian hosts Hope College next Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.