The Hope College football team made sure its first-ever Rivalry meeting with Calvin University would be a day to remember on Saturday afternoon.
The Flying Dutchmen jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter and went to defeat the Knights, 38-7, at Eagles Stadium in Grand Rapids to clinch a share of their 23rd MIAA championship in school history and their first trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs since 2019.
Hope, now 6-0 in the MIAA and 9-0 overall, can clinch an outright MIAA championship and complete its first 10-0 regular season in school history on Saturday, Nov. 16 with a win at the University of Olivet. Kickoff from the Cutler Event Center is 1 p.m.
"I'm just super proud of our guys. Winning in college football is hard," head coach Peter Stuursma said after the game. "I don't think we played up to our standard today, but I tip my cap to (Coach) Trent Figg and Calvin University. They've done a nice job in their first year (as a program). We jumped out pretty quickly, and then I just felt we made some mistakes … We're going to take that and we're going to enjoy that because these guys know now they'll be playing an extended season in the Division III playoffs. We've got a lot of work to do to get to that point."
The Knights took the opening kickoff and drove inside the Hope 15-yard-line before the Dutchmen stiffened. A 37-yard field goal attempt was no good and Hope took over possession of the ball.
The Dutchmen then drove 80 yards in seven plays for the game's first points, with senior running back Tyler Amos (Portage, Michigan/Portage Northern) going the final two yards for the touchdown.
The Hope defense, which has been one of the toughest to run against in Division III all season, came up with a big stop on Calvin's next possession, as sophomore defensive backs Brad Raredon (Hudsonville, Michigan/Hudsonville) and Lorenzo Vitti (Dearborn, Michigan/Divine Child) stopped Knights' running back Jaier Harden for a 1-yard loss on a fourth-and-1, and the Dutchmen took over on downs at the Calvin 45.
Two plays later, senior quarterback Ben Wellman (Bloomington, Illinois/Bloomington) connected with sophomore wide receiver Trevor Griffiths (Stevensville, Michigan/Lakeshore) on a 34-yard touchdown pass to give Hope a 14-0 lead.
Later in the first quarter, senior linebacker Andrew Debri (DeWitt, Michigan/DeWitt) intercepted a Calvin pass and returned the pick 32 yards to the Knights' 33. Hope cashed in on the turnover as freshman running back Kal Motter (Lawton, Michigan/Lawton) scored on a 1-yard touchdown plunge. The Dutchmen led 21-0 after the first 15 minutes, and have now outscored their opponents 146-7 in the first quarter for the season.
Hope added two more touchdowns in the second quarter, as Amos ran four yards for one score and Wellman scrambled 35 yards for another just before halftime, and the Dutchmen led 35-0.
The Dutchmen added one final score in the fourth quarter as sophomore placekicker Caden Balkon (Byron Center, Michigan/Byron Center) kicked a career-long 42-yard field goal, his fourth field goal of the season.
Calvin got on the scoreboard with just under eight minutes to play on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Chase Bradman to Seth Ritsema.
Hope, which entered the game ranked third among Division III teams in total offense, generated 569 yards of total offense – 327 on the ground and 242 through the air. The defense, meanwhile, limited the Knights to 56 rushing yards and 242 yards of total offense for the game. Hope has still not allowed a rushing touchdown all season.
Amos led the ground attack, which was missing senior Chance Strickland due to injury, with 125 yards on 17 carries. Wellman threw for 220 yards on just nine completions and ran for 77 more on seven carries. Motter chipped in 61 yards on the ground on 10 attempts. Fifth-year senior Grant Holtzer (Okemos, Michigan/Okemos) had 142 receiving yards on just four catches.
Senior linebacker Cole Luhmann (Rochester, Michigan/Stoney Creek) led the Hope defense with 10 tackles. Junior defensive tackle Caleb Paarlberg (Alto, Michigan/Caledonia) made eight stops. Freshman defensive end Jack Lamancusa (Comstock Park, Michigan/Rockford) had two tackles for loss among his seven tackles.
Being part of the first-ever Rivalry football game with Calvin was a big deal for Stuursma, whose grandfather, Herman "Buzz" Van Faasen, played point guard for the Knights' men's basketball team in the late 1930s and early 1940s
"First of all, they're two very good institutions. They stand for a lot of great things in the world," Stuursma said. "There's a lot of great alums that have graduated from both places that are doing great things in the world. At the end of the day, that's our job, to make sure that we're educating young men, these guys, to be great dudes, to be really good human beings, be really good dads, really good husbands, and contribute to society in a really positive way. When you can do that and play hard out there and come off the field and be able to … hug your family right next to the field, that's pretty special."