ADRIAN, Mich. – The Adrian College football team dropped a 21-7 decision to Augustana College on Saturday afternoon in a game that saw missed opportunities and miscues set the tone. The Bulldogs could not find any running room all day as they were taken out of their normal game plan and went to the air. The Bulldogs rushed for minus four yards and passed for 179 yards. Augustana entered the contest as a passing team but found a stout running game to their liking. The Vikings carried the ball 51 times for 192 yards and two scores. They were averaging just 52 rushing yards per game coming into the game.

Augustana forced a three-and-out on Adrian's first drive and then drove into enemy territory getting the ball down to the 29-yard line. The Adrian defense got a gift as Alex Hembrey and David Lee mixed up on the handoff and fumbled the ball as Austin Fritz pounced on it to stall the drive.

The Bulldogs got another takeaway midway through the quarter as Vinnie Ives got the first interception by the Adrian defense this year at the Augustana 46-yard line with 3:33 left in the quarter. The Vikings made a play on defense on the next offensive play for the Bulldogs as Jared Edwards fumbled and Curt Perschnick recovered at the Adrian 48-yard line.

The Vikings drove down to the Bulldog 12-yard line and on second-and-eight it was A.J. Hoger who took a pitch from Lee and raced around right end untouched into the end zone to give Augie a 7-0 lead with 1:29 left in the opening quarter.

Mike McGee was intercepted on Adrian's next possession by Eric Westerberg at the Bulldog 44-yard line and the Vikings went seven plays in 44 yards capped off by a 15-yard screen pass to Robert Wood for the score and a 14-0 lead.

The Bulldogs had a golden opportunity to cut into the lead as they took possession of the ball with 6:44 left until halftime. Justin Hemm used his legs and receiving skills to get the ball down to the one-yard line in five plays. The Bulldogs then went backwards as they rushed for a loss of one yard on first down. Hemm was sacked for a loss of eight yards on second down and McGee was dropped for another eight-yard loss to set up a 35-yard field goal. Logan Mitseff went wide left on his attempt to put Adrian on the board and the Vikings had a huge stop.

The Adrian defense put the offense into great position midway through the third quarter as Augustana attempted to quick punt on third down and 27 from their own 32-yard line. Lee was pressured out of the pocket and whiffed on the punt with his left foot and Adrian recovered the fumble as Fritz got his second recovery of the day at the Augie 28-yard line. One play later it was McGee to Hemm for a 28-yard touchdown toss to cut the lead to 14-7 with 2:58 left in the third quarter.

Augustana responded with a lengthy drive of 57 yards in eight plays which took 3:36 off the clock as Wood scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard plunge over left guard to make it 21-7 with 14:16 to play in the contest. Adrian could not get past midfield for the rest of the game and fell to 1-2 on the season.

McGee finished 17-of-32 for 164 yards through the air. He maintained sole possession of third place in Adrian history with his 32^nd career touchdown pass. His 17 completions also moved him into second place all-time in school history (340).

Hemm caught six passes for 84 yards and Mitch Gabriele added four grabs for 39 yards. Kevin Allaer had a great day as the punter for the Bulldogs. He averaged 47.0 yards per boot with a long of 58 yards. Senior linebackers Jarred Kwiatkowski and Danny Taylor led the defense with 11 tackles. Fritz finished with seven tackles, a sack and two fumble recoveries.