HANOVER, Ind. – After three close quarters of football, Hanover College pulled away in the fourth quarter handing Trine University their second loss of the season by the score of 38-14.
The Panthers had the early advantage in the contest, scoring on their first two drives of the day. After stymieing the Thunder offense to start, the home side scored a field goal on their first drive and then a touchdown on their second. Hanover held a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Following the touchdown, the defense began to solve some of the Panther offensive success. The Thunder came forced a couple of incompletions to turn the ball over on downs and give the offense their fourth chance of the game.
Trine's offense, led by senior Alex Price, turned to the passing game and finally found success. Price started with a 17-yard completion to Brandon Kline then settled in with further connections with Kale Lawson and John Clampitt to move the ball deep into the redzone. A third completion to Lawson gave the senior receiver a chance to dive toward the pilon and score for the first points of the game. After a successful extra point, the score was 10-7 which would hold into intermission following another defensive stop by the Thunder to end the half.
Hanover scored on the first drive of the second half to build the lead back to ten at 17-7 and looked to build on the lead again quickly after a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Trine's defense came up with the stop with freshman Tamir Woods recording a sack on third-and-seven before Marques Tagliaferri and Tucker Hasselman combined to bring down the receiver on the fourth down attempt.
Price built on the momentum gained by the defense. He drew a pass interference call on an attempt to Clampitt before connecting with senior Connor Arthur for 39 yards, moving the ball to the Hanover 15-yard line. Senior Xaine Kirby found a hole up the middle on the next play to score the team's second touchdown of the game.
The teams traded punts on the next few drives before the Thunder drove into Hanover territory again. This time the drive ended badly with Price throwing an interception, his first in three games. The Panthers connected on a long pass to score quickly after the miscue.
The inauspicious start became a trend of the fourth quarter, with Trine's final three drives of the game ending on a punt, a turnover on downs and another interception. Hanover, on the other hand, added two more touchdowns to build their lead to the final score of 38-14 before running out the clock.
Price finished the game going 23-for-26 in the air for 245 yards. He tallied one touchdown and two interceptions. Kirby led the team on the ground with 29 yards and the one touchdown. Arthur led the way in receiving with 93 yards in the game.
Defensively the team boasted a balanced effort with three members of the team sharing the high of five tackles including Skyler Warren, Wes VanHooser and Woods. The freshman Woods added two tackles for a loss in the game including his crucial sack.
Trine falls to 2-2 following the loss. They will look to bounce back while entering the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association of their season by traveling to face Alma College. That game is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 30.