HOLLAND, Mich.- The University of Northwestern Football team went back out on the road this week after two consecutive home games at Reynolds Field. The Eagles made the long trip to Holland, Michigan to take on Hope College who entered the week receiving votes in the National Top 25 poll. UNW fell on the road to Hope 54-17.
The Flying Dutchmen used a big first half performance to propel themselves to a win over the Eagles on their home field. The Hope defense forced a UNW three and out to start the nonconference contest and then scored on their opening drive thanks to a two yard touchdown. Only about a minute came off the game clock before Hope was in the end zone again, this time it was their defensive unit that scored off of an interception returned for a touchdown. They added another touchdown off of a long 12 play drive right before the first quarter expired, and UNW trailed 21-0 after 15 minutes.
Trailing by three touchdowns, the Eagles' offense came out in a no huddle attack and moved the ball down the field with a sense of urgency to grab some positive momentum for the first time on Saturday afternoon. It was a short, yet effective touchdown drive that ended in a touchdown to get the Eagles on the board. The biggest play of the drive happened to be the first play of the drive when quarterback
Caden Cantrell (Snowflake, Ariz./Snowflake) completed a 36 yard pass to
Ren Hamann (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville). Three plays later, Cantrell completed a 10 yard pass to running back
Sivert Klefsaas (Motley, Minn./Staples-Motley) out of the backfield for a touchdown. UNW had cut the deficit to 21-7 early in the second quarter.
Hope responded by showcasing the explosiveness of their offense. The Flying Dutchmen used 42 and 51 yard touchdown passes to extend their lead to 34-7 at the half.
Hope's passing attack continued to be the story in the second half. The Eagles' defense turned the Dutchmen over on downs on their first drive of the second half. But then on Hope's final drive of the third quarter and their first drive of the fourth quarter, they used passing touchdowns of 28 and 17 yards to extend their lead.
The Eagles' best offensive drive of the game came in the fourth quarter. The drive saw the Eagles go 75 yards on nine plays and end with a Cantrell to Hamann nine yard touchdown pass. Hope responded with a 66 yard touchdown completion of their own. The final points of the game came inside two minutes remaining when
Dominic Borges (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) kicked a 32 yard field goal to bring the game to its final score of 54-17.
Cantrell finished completing 20 of his 31 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns.
Jaylen Brown (Cusseta, Ga./Chattahoochee County) was the Eagles' leading receiver on the afternoon finishing with 73 yards on four catches.
Beau Burk (Ogilvie, Minn./Ogilvie) led UNW's side in catches with five for 39 yards. Hamann finished with three catches for 49 yards and a touchdown. Klefsaas had three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown while also finishing as the Eagles' leading rusher with 34 yards on nine carries.
Defensively,
Luke Malamisuro (Cambridge Isanti, Minn./Cambridge Isanti) and
Collin Currier (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) led the Eagles with six total tackles each.
Ethan Hugare (Ellsworth, Wis./Ellsworth) finished with five tackles including a tackle for loss.
Jah'Kiing Joseph (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Heritage),
Jeffrey Markvicka II (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Fridley), and
Ian Ahrendt (Nevis, Minn./Nevis Public) each finished with four tackles apiece.
Having played four nonconference games to start the season, UNW's focus will now shift to conference play where they will look to repeat as UMAC Champions in 2023. The Eagles' UMAC opener will take place on Saturday, September 30
th at 1:00pm in New Ulm against Martin Luther College.
