Sept. 26, 2009

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The homecoming contest against Lake Erie College on Saturday night looked to be the third straight win for the Bulldogs, but the Storm blew the doors open in the mid-third quarter and beyond in a come-from-behind shocker at Performance Stadium. The Bulldogs led 21-0 with 12:43 left in the third quarter but Lake Erie did not quit as they scored 29 of the game's next 36 points to rally for their third win of the year.

The highlight play came on Adrian's third touchdown of the game as senior fullback Jackson Hanks took a shovel pass from Mike McGee and looked to be stopped behind the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-one from the Lake Erie 31-yard line. Hanks used second and third effort to break tackles and run 31 yards for the score his second touchdown of the night.

Joe Beehler scored his first touchdown of his senior season through the air on a five-yard completion in the first quarter to stake Adrian to a 7-0 lead. Hanks caught a seven-yard shovel pass in the second quarter with 40 seconds until halftime to give AC a 14-0 lead at the break.

Lake Erie got on the board in the third with 6:07 to go as Sean Bedevelsky found Demetrius Gray on a 12-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 21-7. The game moved into the fourth quarter with Adrian still holding a two-touchdown lead. Adrian's first possession of the fourth resulted in a punt and the Storm took over at their own 20-yard line with 6:32 left.

LEC moved down the field for 80 yards in a quick 1:23 with a no-huddle offense. Tony Howard scored a two-yard rushing touchdown over right tackle with 5:09 to play cutting the lead down to 21-14.

The Bulldogs went three-and-out on their next possession and the Storm began their next drive at the LEC 33-yard line. Bedevelsky moved his team down the field and found Nick Yeager over the middle but the pass bounced off his pads into the hands of Sederick Dunbar for the Bulldogs with 1:29 to go.

Lake Erie found another punt and called all three of their timeouts to get the ball back with 1:05 on the clock. On the fourth play of the drive, Bedevelsky fired a strike to Dave Romeo down the seam and Romeo went 45 yards for the tying touchdown with 32 seconds to go.

Adrian had one final chance in regulation as McGee fired a pass down the far sideline and Stevie Freeman was interferred with for a 15-yard penalty which took the ball to the LEC 47-yard line. McGee then threw a jump ball down to Eric Suttie who made a brilliant catch down to the Storm 15-yard line with 12 seconds left. After a quick rush down to the 12 and a timeout, Zach Scoville had a 29-yard field goal attempt blocked as time expired.

Adrian got the ball first in the extra session and scored on three plays as Jared Edwards scored from five yards to push the lead to 28-21. Lake Erie got their chance and Bedevelsky used a nice fake pitch on the option keeping the ball for a 20-yard TD to get LEC within a point. Sam Marcotte kicked the extra point to tie the game again but Adrian was called for running into the kicker and Lake Erie took the penalty and placed the ball at the one and a half yard line. The Storm decided to go for the two-point conversion and the win as Bedevelsky faked a handoff to Howard and raced around left end to the pylon for the game-winning deuce.

Adrian finished the game with 452 total yards while Lake Erie gained 466. The Storm passed for 296 as Bedevelsky went 20-of-39 with a pair of touchdowns. McGee had another good day throwing the ball with 21-of-28 for 279 yards and three scores. Adrian gained 142 yards on the ground and Justin Hemm led the team with 68 rushing yards on 11 carries.

Jarred Kwiatkowski led AC with eight tackles and two tackles for loss. Justin Judd had four tackles and two and a half tackles for loss. Adrian is now 2-2 overall and will begin MIAA action next week at upstart Kalamazoo College.