Scots Make it Interesting, Defeat Britons 45-35
ALMA, Mich. – In the end, it was a win though for a few moments midway through the second half, despite holding the lead, the Scots also held open the door as a 28-7 halftime lead became a 31-28 scare early in the fourth.Again, senior quarterback Josh Brehm was instrumental with 484 yards of total offense on the day, rushing for 122 yards and passing for 362 more. He threw his first interception of the season as the Scots won 45-35 against Albion College at Bahlke Field in Alma Saturday.
The NCAA record for pass attempts without an interception has belonged to the Gagliardi Trophy candidate since Oct. 7, but he continued to extend his lead. He threw 17 passes Saturday against Albion before he was picked off, bringing the season and NCAA record to 288 pass attempts without an interception. This is a record at the Division I, II and III level.
Brehm now has more yards of total offense in his career than Chad Pennington or Peyton Manning had in their collegiate careers (Pennington had 10,758, Manning had 11,020). Brehm has 11,034 yards of total offense for his four year career at Alma.
For the game, Albion opened scoring in the first, driving 67 yards in nine plays to convert on an Adam House rush. But Brehm led the Scots back, 70 yards in eight plays in just over three minutes to tie things up at 7-7. The Scots scored again just 10 seconds into the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead. Brehm found Nate Jervey (Harbor Springs) for a 13-yard touchdown with 1:05 left in the half to go up 21-7 and the Maroon and Cream scored again before the close of the half when Brehm connected with Jeremy Stephens (Maple Rapids/Fulton) on a 15-yard score to command a 28-7 halftime lead.
But out of the half, Albion marched 85 yards to score and close the gap to 28-14. A Dan Seals (Ithaca) field goal for the Scots made the score 31-14 before Albion’s Peter Shaw scored on a 29 yard pass from Jake Wilson to make the score 31-21. There was no answer from the Scots as Albion scored on a five-yard Jake Wilson rush to bring the Britons within three points, 31-28.
The offense kicked into gear and the defense helped as Kyle Ryan (Reese) and Joe Cline each scored touchdowns to extend the lead to a comfortable 45-28 margin. House scored again for the game’s final TD with 3:21 remaining. The game would end with the score 45-35 in the Scots’ advantage.
Joe Cline (Ithaca) was the favored receiver on the day with 143 yards on eight catches and one touchdown while Stephens and Jervey each connected with Brehm for scores. Stephen Lux (Alma) had six successful PAT tries in the win.
The defense was anchored by Matt Stempki (St. Ignace/LaSalle) with nine assisted tackles while James Lang (Coleman), Kyle Percival (Lansing/Waverly) and Buddy Scarborough (Romeo) each had seven tackles. Percival had three pass breakups as did Ryan Coon. Coon also added an interception for the Maroon and Cream.
The Scots return to action next Saturday (Oct. 28) when they travel to Olivet College to face the Comets.
Posted: Sat, October 21st, 2006 at 4:44PM
