ALBION, Mich. – The Trine University football team completed an epic comeback to start the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) portion of the season 1-0. The team erased a 21-point deficit against their hosts from Albion College on the way to a 38-35 victory.
The first quarter was all in favor of the home team, with the Britons scoring a pair of touchdowns, with help from some costly pass interference penalties on the Thunder defense. They added a third touchdown late in the second quarter to build a 21-0 lead with just under four minutes left.
The Thunder finally found some offensive success in the waning minutes of the half. Ivyn Collins connected with Jermaine Williams on a 56-yard pass to get the team on the board. After the Bryce Hufford extra point the score was 21-7, where it ultimately would stay for the halftime intermission.
The Trine rushing game got started in the second half, with Collins, Saleem Felder and Cortaveon Barnett all finding some success. The drive went 71 yards before stalling on the Albion 14 yard line, and forcing a Hufford field goal to make the score 21-10.
The defense came up with their first takeaway of the game on the ensuing drive for the Britons. Ridge Howard snagged the interception on a third and four play, before returning the pick 32 yards deep into Albion territory.
The play set up a quick touchdown drive for the offense with Collins connecting with Rashawn Street for the 10 yard touchdown. Another Hufford extra point made the score 21-17 with 6:48 still remaining in the third quarter.
It looked like Albion would respond as they pieced together a long drive on their next possession. They drove to the Trine 13 before Emil Drake picked off a pass near the goal line to end the threat. While the offense failed to score on the next drive, Collins did rush for a first down allowing the team to flip field position after their punt.
The Thunder took their first lead of the game on their first drive of the fourth quarter. Collins once again got the points on a long pass reception, this time finding Zack Pillow for 57 yards. The score was 24-21 after the extra point, but Albion responded with a touchdown of their own, retaking the lead at 28-24.
After a three-and-out for both teams, Collins led another strong drive for the Thunder to set up the beginning of a wild final three minutes of play. It started with Trine seemingly punting the ball away on a fourth and ten play, but a Britons' penalty cut the distance in half and Collins converted with a pass to Tristan Burrus to extend the drive. Barnett got going on the ground and Collins continued to complete passes to ultimately take the 31-28 lead with 2:10 remaining in regulation.
Albion responded immediately by taking the ensuing kickoff to the house making the score 34-31 in their favor after their own extra point.
Collins immediately connected with Street for 59 more yards to start the next offensive drive and Barnett went the final six to make the score 38-35 with 52 seconds remaining.
Albion drove quickly into the Thunder half of the field on their next drive, but Jahari Branch tipped a pass to Roman Schrock to seemingly end the game by giving the ball back to the Collins and the offense with just 26 seconds left in the game.
That 26 seconds proved long enough for a Thunder turnover, with Collins fumbling on an exchange and Albion recovering the ball on the seven yard line. The Britons ran on their first down, before Branch came out of nowhere to break up a catch in the endzone on second. The Britons opted to play it safe with a field goal attempt on third down, rather than risking running out of clock. Jeshua Miller came around the edge of the formation and blocked that attempt, finally ending the game in favor of the Thunder.
In total the final three minutes of the game included three touchdowns, two turnovers, a fourth down conversion and a blocked field goal. The teams combined for 235 all purpose yards during the stretch.
Collins was the top passer in the game, recording 272 yards while going 19-for-33 with three touchdowns and one interception. Williams led the team with 81 yards receiving, with Street finishing with 77 and Pillow coming in with 57. Barnett led the team on the ground with 63 yards, with Collins finishing with 37, Felder with 20 and Craig Nichols with 19.
Cole Basey led the Thunder with 11 tackles in the game, with Drake coming in second with eight tackles in addition to his crucial interception. Wesyn Ludwig had the lone sack of the game for the team, but Schrock led the way with 1.5 tackles for a loss to go with his interception.
Overall, the team improves to 3-1. They will face a tough matchup for next weekend's homecoming contest, hosting Hope College, who is currently nationally ranked but lost their game against Alma College today in overtime. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 4.
