October 28, 2000 - Alma College at Kalamazoo College

KALAMAZOO - The Kalamazoo College Hornets accomplished their goals of controlling the clock, dominating the rushing game, and most importantly winning the game as the Hornets knocked off visiting Alma college 23-19 today.

Kalamazoo held a five minute time of possession advantage, primarily by gaining 173 yards on 41 rushing attempts. Justin Gross had 77 yards on 12 carries while Dwight White had 73 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown. Quarterback Zach Ellis had 28 yards rushing on seven attempts. The Hornet defense limited the Scots to just 71 yards on the ground.

Zach Ellis played the first, third, and fourth quarters at quarterback and had a solid game, completing 16-of-25 passes for 171 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Again, the Hornet defense did a good job stopping the potent Alma offense, allowing 229 yards in the air. Alma gained a large chunk of that on their opening drive when they completed a 50-yard bomb for a touchdown.

T.J. Thayer led the Hornet receivers with 85 yards on seven receptions, but it was Jason Charnley's two touchdown receptions that helped propel Kalamazoo to victory. Charnley finished the day with five catches for 44 yards. Andy Graham had two catches for 36 yards.

Brant Haverdink led the defense with 12 tackles, including two for loss and one sack. Brad Zielaskowski had seven tackles and one sack. Brett Foster also had a sack and Mark LaCombe had an interception.

The Hornets trailed 14-10 at halftime. Tom Hillemeier opened the scoring with a 36-yard field goal on the game's opening drive. Alma followed a minute later with the 50-yard touchdown pass. Jason Charnley scored his first touchdown on a 12-yard reception with 5:50 left in the first. Alma's Steve Slowke connected with Kris Ernst on a 19-yard touchdown reception with 10:18 left in the second quarter.

Jason Charnley caught his second touchdown pass with 42 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Hornets up 16-14 after the extra point attempt failed. Dwight White increased the Kalamazoo lead to 23-14 with a five-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Alma cut the lead to six (23-17) with a 32-yard field goal with 2:02 left in the game.

The Scots attempted an onside kick after the field goal and recovered at the Kalamazoo 46-yardline. The Scots advanced to the Kalamazoo 32-yardline before a fumble was recovered by the Hornets' Paul Hubbard with 1:04 left in the game. Kalamazoo took a knee three times and time expired.

Kalamazoo improves to 4-3 (2-1 MIAA) with the win while Alma falls to 4-4 (1-2 MIAA). Alma tied for the MIAA championship last year and was the league representative in the NCAA tournament. Kalamazoo will host Albion next week while Alma hosts Adrian.

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