Alma, Mich. - The Alma College football team suffered a 33-31 defeat to Manchester University on Saturday night (Sept. 9) in the home opener for the Scots at Bahlke Field. The Scots (1-1) were driving in Manchester territory with under a minute to play, but the Spartans (1-1) forced a turnover to seal the victory.
Junior Caleb Reinhart (Montrose, Mich./Montrose) scored a career-high three touchdowns and ran for 84 yards, including the game's first two scores to put Alma ahead 14-0, while sophomore Austin Spratling (Grand Rapids, Mich./Wyoming Kelloggsville) scored his first career touchdown on his first career carry to pull the Scots within two points late in the fourth quarter.
Senior Zac Peterson (Holt, Mich./Holt) posted a game-high 15 tackles, while senior Colton Tyson (Vassar, Mich./Vassar) made 21 stops for Alma.
What Happened
- Caleb Reinhart earned the Scots their first two touchdowns to start off the first quarter, where the Scots led 14-0.
- Sophomore Zeke Ramirez (Homer, Mich./Homer) had his first career interception to set up the Scots for their second score of the game. It was Alma's only pick in the contest.
- Manchester scored twice in the first half to bring the score to 14-12, with Alma's Jacob Plisko (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) ending the half with a 24-yard field goal to make the score 17-12.
- The Spartans opened the second half with a pair of scores, opening the half with a 93-yard kickoff return by Dakota Nelson before Alex Downard found the end zone on a 1-yard scamper late in the third quarter to give Manchester a 26-17 lead.
- Reinhart scored his third touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter to pull the Scots within two points at 26-24.
- Manchester responded, scoring with 10 minutes left to play to regain a nine-point advantage.
- Austin Spratling scored his first career touchdown off his first career carry to bring the Scots back within two points.
- Manchester intercepted senior Dylan Zaborowski (Jackson, Mich./Michigan Center) at the Manchester 28-yard line with less than a minute left to play to end the game.
Notables
- Caleb Reinhart had his third career multi-touchdown game, ending the day with a career-high three total.
- Dylan Zaborowski moved to third place in Alma history for career passing yards, posting 194 yards to bring him to 6,490. He moved past Steve Slowke, who recorded 6,363 yards from 1999-2002. Zaborowski finished the game completing 13 of his 23 attempts and also ran for a total of 65 yards.
- Alex Yancy led the Scots in receiving yards with a total of 89 yards on five catches.
- The loss was Alma's first of the season, as well as the first time the Scots have dropped a game at home under the lights, snapping a four-game string.
They Said It
"You've got to give Manchester credit. They made plays and we had too many penalties at crucial times and missed too many tackles. Now we've got to get back to work. This is one of those things where I think we thought the game was over when we got out to that quick lead, but give credit to them because they kept coming down, making plays and we didn't. That was the ball game. We are blue collar, they are blue collar, and they made more plays than us today. They did a great job." - Head Coach Greg Pscodna.
Up Next
Alma returns to Bahlke Field at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, to host Benedictine University (IL) as part of the Challenge Series between the MIAA and the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The Scots and Eagles have not met on the gridiron since the 1995 campaign.