ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University football team ended the 2019 season on a high note with a 29-3 win against Kalamazoo (Mich.) College in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and season finale at Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium on senior day.
Trine finished with 325 yards of total offense with 234 yards on the ground. Senior Seth Boggs (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins) led the team in rushing with 80 yards on 12 carries (6.7 yards per carry) and had one touchdown. Junior Dylan Dowling (Alexandria, Ind./Alexandria) was second with 75 yards on 15 touches (5.0 ypc) and scored twice. Freshman quarterback Alex Price (Reading, Mich./Reading) rounded out the leading rushers with 74 yards in 16 attempts (4.6 ypc).
Price also completed eight-of-14 pass attempts for 91 yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Colin Goebel (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) was Price's top target with game-highs of five catches and 71 yards (14.2 yards per catch).
On defense, the Thunder held Kalamazoo to 209 total yards (79 rushing and 130 passing). Seniors Carl Sandford III (Detroit, Mich./Lincoln) and Jarred Billcheck (Jenera, Ohio/Arlington) each recorded a team-high five tackles. Sandford also had a half tackle for loss in addition to an interception that he returned for a TD.
Trine (5-5, 2-5 MIAA) capitalized on its first offensive possession of the game with a seven-play, 70-yard scoring drive that ended in a one-yard TD rush by Boggs at the 10:07 mark to grab the early 7-0 lead. Later in the opening quarter, the Thunder tacked on three more points when junior kicker Ryan Hibbets (Monticello, Ind./Twin Lakes) connected on a 38-yard field goal with just over a minute remaining to make it a 10-0 game and end the scoring after the first 15 minutes.
In the second quarter, Kalamazoo (2-8, 1-6 MIAA) got on the scoreboard with 4:28 on the clock thanks to a 37-yard field goal to make it a 10-3 ball game to end a 10-play, 65-yard drive. After forcing a punt that ended Trine's ensuing possession, the Thunder defense got in on the scoring and added to the team's lead when Sandford stepped in front of a pass and returned it 35 yards for a score with 33 seconds remaining in the half and padded the advantage to 17-3 at the break.
The lone points in the third quarter came on a late touchdown with just under two minutes remaining when Dowling found the endzone on a one-yard TD run that was set up thanks to a bad snap on a punt attempt by KZOO that ended up in the Hornet endzone and later downed at the one-yard line. The extra point attempt by Trine after the Dowling score ended in a failed conversion, making the score 23-3 in favor of the Thunder.
Dowling then recorded his second rushing TD of the game in the fourth quarter at the 6:56 mark for the only points of the frame. The extra point ended up wide left, but the Hornets were kept out of the endzone the remainder of the game as Trine went on to claim the 29-3 victory.
