PLYMOUTH, WIS. -- The Trine University football team captured its 13th straight regular-season victory with a big day on both sides of the ball in a, 56-6, drubbing of Lakeland (Wis.) University in its first road game of the season in Plymouth, Wis.
The Thunder offense racked up 670 total yards of offense which was the third most in a game in program history. The majority of those yards came on the ground with 486 which were the second most recorded in a single game.
Defensively, Trine set a single-game record for fewest passing yards allowed with just 28 against Lakeland. The previous mark was 29 yards against McKendree (Ill.) University in September of 2002. The six points given up by the Thunder, tied for the second fewest allowed in a game.
Senior running back Lamar Carswell (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales) accounted for 217 of the team's 486 yards on the ground, marking his fifth career 200-yard rushing game. He averaged 11.4 yards per carry, which included an 81-yard scamper, and found the endzone twice. Sophomore D'on Stinson (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) was second in rushing with 69 yards on 10 touches (6.9 ypc.) and the duo of senior Elijah Klepper (Mendon, Mich./Mendon) and freshman Keishon Edwards (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) both topped the 40-yard rushing plateau. Klepper recorded one run for 43 yards and Edwards rushed for 40 yards on seven carries (5.7 ypc.) to go along with one score.
Senior Jeffery Barnett (Fremont, Ohio/Ross) was one of nine players to catch a pass with a game-tying high three receptions for a game-best 68 yards and a TD. Sophomores Essa Kellah (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights), Seth Vargo (Bellevue, Ohio/Clyde and Klepper all caught passes for touchdowns in the game.
Senior quarterback Andrew Duckett (Niles, Mich./Brandywine) completed 88.9 percent of his passes (eight-of-nine) for 139 yards and a pair of TD. Junior Brandon Winters (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) completed seven-of-eight passes for 39 yards and also had two TD completions.
Junior Simeon Washington (Toldeo, Ohio/Central Catholic) led all Trine defensemen in tackles with seven (all solo), including one tackle for loss and a pass breakup. Sophomore Sam Cavanaugh (Muncie, Ind./Central) and senior J.J. Fierro (Kokomo, Ind./Maconaquah) were tied for second with five stops each. Two of Cavanaugh's tackles were for loss and Fierro also recorded the team's only interception.
Brandon Winters tossed the first two touchdown passes on the day for Trine beginning with a 10-yard hookup to Vargo for the only points of the first quarter that ended a five-play, 53-yard drive. Brandon Winters then found Kellah on a four-yard strike with 13:19 to go in the second quarter on a drive that included a 43-yard run by Klepper on the first play from scrimmage.
The scoring continued for Trine in the second quarter with a 34-yard pass play from Duckett to Barnett with 8:29 to play in the half and a 43-yard TD run by Carswell at the 5:26 mark. The touchdowns by Barnett and Carswell were the final points of the half as Trine took a commanding, 28-0, lead into the break.
Lakeland took the opening kickoff of the second half, but the initial drive ended with an interception by Fierro and led to a 10-yard completion from Duckett to Klepper for the fifth Trine touchdown of the game and extended the margin to 35-0. The Trine defense allowed the Muskie offense into the red zone only once which resulted in no points, but the only score for Lakeland came on a 75-yard run following the Klepper touchdown with 11:19 to go in the third quarter. The Muskies attempted a two-point conversion, but failed to convert, making the score, 35-6. On the ensuing Trine drive, the Thunder answered with a seven-play, 66-yard scoring drive that included a 31-yard completion to Barnett and ended in a six-yard score by Carswell that gave Trine a 42-6 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Trine tallied the only points in the final quarter, which began with a one-yard TD rush by Edwards on the team's first offensive possession of the period. The final score of the game came from junior quarterback Brent Hays (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) who used his feet on a 13-yard run to paydirt with 1:39 to go in the game en route to the Thunder posting the convincing 56-6 victory.
Trine will have its "bye week" next week and will resume the 2018 schedule on Saturday, Sept. 29 when it travels to Holland, Mich. for a matchup against Hope College in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opener. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.