Oct. 4, 2008

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Bulldog football team won their fourth straight on Saturday night with a 42-17 homecoming win over Kalamazoo. Adrian jumped out to a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter and kept the Hornets at arms length for the remainder of the game.

Nick Hemmingsen caught his first touchdown of the year on his first reception of the year from 18 yards out of the hand of Troy Niblock with 8:50 left in the first to give AC a 7-0 lead. Niblock scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns at the 11:11 mark of the second quarter from nine yards to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead. Myke Johnson ran it in for six points from 21 yards away less than two minutes later to extend the lead to 21-0.

Cory McCain caught a deflected ball for a 18-yard touchdown at the 4:40 mark from Brandon Luczak to cut the lead to 21-7. On the very next offensive play, Niblock turned in a masterful 64-yard rushing score which pushed the advantage back to three touchdowns. Kalamazoo came right back on their next drive and Brandon Baity caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Luczak to make it 28-14 with 1:05 left until the half. It was deja vu for the Kalamazoo defense as AC struck on their first play from 85 yards when Mike McGee found Joseph Beehler streaking down the middle of the field for a pitch-and-catch which is the longest play of the year for the Bulldogs.

Adrian extended their lead to 42-14 with three seconds left in the third quarter as Johnson found the end zone from 13 yards capping off a 13-play, 73-yard drive which eclipsed 7:01. Jon Rea added a 27-yard field goal for Kalamazoo with 11:49 left to conclude the scoring. Adrian set a season-high for the second straight week with 606 total yards on offense. The Bulldogs rushed for 406 yards on 55 attempts. Adrian was 32 yards short of the school single game record for rushing yards and 14 yards shy of the single game record for total yards of offense.

Niblock carried for a career-high 205 yards on 16 carries (12.8 avg) and two scores giving him six rushing touchdowns in two weeks. Johnson ended the game with 10 carries for 62 yards and two touchdowns. Nine different players recorded at least one carry for the Bulldogs. Chris McGuire made seven tackles to lead the Adrian defense which gave up just 25 rushing yards. The team had five tackles for a loss of 19 yards and Brad Smagala continued his streak of one interception each game this year giving him five picks for 47 return yards.