GRAND RAPIDS Mich. – Calvin concluded an historic first year of collegiate football on Saturday, hosting the Britons of Albion on Calvin Senior Day. As it has throughout the 2024 campaign, Calvin fought to the end before falling to the visiting Britons 41-21 at Eagles Stadium.

The two MIAA foes were tied 21-21 at halftime. Albion picked up a third quarter touchdown and added two more in the fourth to pull away for the win.

The first half proved to be an entertaining 30 minutes. Albion (7-3 overall, 5-2 MIAA) stopped Calvin on its opening drive and forced the Knights (2-8 overall, 0-7 MIAA) into a punt. The Britons took over at their 32 and proceeded to march 68 yards on seven plays with senior quarterback Luke Lovell tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to put Albion up 7-0. Calvin punched back with a 10-play, 75-yard drive culminated by a 10-yard touchdown pass from graduate student Chase Bradman (Kentwood, Mich./South Christian HS) to freshman Seth Anderson (Belmont, Mich./Rockford HS) to tie the game 7-7.

Albion regained the lead at 14-7 on another Luke Lovell touchdown pass, this time a 30-yard strike with 4:47 left in the opening quarter. Lovell added another touchdown pass early in the second quarter to put the Britons up 21-7.

Calvin refused to fold and began to chip away at the Albion lead. The Knights mounted a 7-play, 77-yard drive capped off by a well-designed and executed touchdown pass from three yards out by Bradman to graduate student Jaier Harden (Grand Rapids, Mich./Innovation Central HS). The point-after by freshman Sal Ruffino (Shelby Twp., Mich./Eisenhower HS) made it 21-14.

Albion's subsequent drive was snuffed out by a third-down sack by blitzing freshmen linebackers Carson Schnurstein (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) and Trevor Martens (Hudsonville, Mich./Jenison HS) forcing the Brits into a punt. A short punt by Albion gave the ball to the Knights at their own 39-yard line.

Calvin mounted a lengthy drive that was completed with an eight-yard touchdown pass on third down from Bradman to freshman Luke Michmerhuizen (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) in the right corner of the end zone. The point-after tied the game 21-21 with 29 seconds left in the half.

A pair of long Albion passes gave the Britons a short field goal opportunity on the final play of the first half, but the attempt sailed wide, leaving the contest deadlocked at 21.

Albion took the second half kickoff and drove down to the Calvin 29-yard line before the Knight defense stiffened, forcing another field goal attempt. Albion's 46-yard try had the distance but clanged off the upright.

Calvin appeared poised to take the lead, driving to the 50-yard line but a short pass was intercepted by the Britons, setting up a five-play, 56-yard drive with Lovell throwing his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon for a 28-21 Albion lead.

The Knights moved the ball down to the Albion 23 but had the drive stall with Calvin turning the ball over on downs. Lovell then threw his fifth touchdown pass of the afternoon and the Britons followed with another touchdown, this time on a short run with 4:18 remaining, to put the contest out of reach.

Both quarterbacks put up big numbers. Bradman was 32 of 41 for 256 yards and three touchdown passes. Lovell was 28 of 34 passing for Albion for 422 yards and five touchdown passes.

Anderson was the prime beneficiary of Bradman's passing efforts, collecting career-highs in receptions (8) and reception yards (117) to go with one touchdown. Michmerhuizen recorded seven catches for 38 yards and a touchdown. Freshmen Hunter Hogan (Ravenna, Mich./Ravenna HS) had eight catches for 44 yards and freshman Seth Ritsema (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian HS) six catches for 47 yards.

Martens had a career-high 15 tackles to go with one tackle for loss and half a sack. Senior safety Paul VanderPloeg (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) had 13 tackles including one for loss. Schnurstein had 11 tackles including a half-sack. Freshman Caden Kolanowski (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) added eight tackles and one pass break-up.

Martens finished as the MIAA leader (conference games) in tackles (70) with VanderPloeg second (66) and Schnurstein fifth (61). Bradman finished fourth in the MIAA (conference games) in touchdown passes (12) and passing yards (1,583). Michmerhuizen (conference games) finished fifth in the MIAA in receptions (31) and sixth in reception yardage (448).

Prior to the game, Calvin honored the seven members of its senior class which included Chase Bradman, David Ensley (Comstock Park, Mich./Rockford HS), Jaier Harden, Isaac Northouse (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian HS), Bryce Perko (Ray, Mich./Parkway Christian HS), Wyatt Steensma (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian HS) and Paul VanderPloeg.

COACHES COMMENT: "Credit Albion for making the plays it needed to win today," said Calvin head football coach Trent Figg. "Hats off to our seniors for leading our team this year and leading again today. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I've never been prouder of a team than I am of this Calvin group. It's a special group of young men who fought hard each game. They did that again today. You can't put a price tag on experience but now we have some experience under our belt moving forward. We've got bright days ahead of us and I'm thrilled and honored to be the head coach of this program."