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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The first chapter of the Calvin-Hope football rivalry was unveiled Saturday afternoon at Eagles Stadium on the campus of Grand Rapids Christian High School.

Hope was victorious over the Knights by a 38-7 score.

The Flying Dutchmen entered the contest ranked 16^th nationally in one poll and 17^th in another.

Calvin pushed early, moving the ball down to the Hope 18-yard line on the opening drive of the game. The key play in the drive was a 32-yard pass play between graduate student quarterback Chase Bradman (Kentwood, Mich./South Christian HS) and freshman Hunter Hogan (Ravenna, Mich./Ravenna HS). The Knights ultimately were forced to settle for a 37-yard field goal attempt with the kick sailing wide and short.

Hope proceeded to score three consecutive touchdowns in the first quarter added two more in the second quarter to lead 35-0 at halftime.

Offensive success slowed in the second half with the Flying Dutchmen connecting on a 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

Calvin responded with its first points on the ensuing drive with Bradman hooking up with freshman Seth Ritsema on a 32-yard touchdown pass up the left sideline to make it a 38-7 game.

Neither team scored again with the capacity crowd of more than 4,200 fans walking away having witnessed the first-ever rivalry contest.

Calvin graduate student Jaier Harden (Grand Rapids, Mich./Innovation Central HS) came up with 60 hard-earned yards on the ground on 22 carries. Harden was able to plow through for several short-yardage gains that moved the chains to keep Calvin drives alive. Bradman was 17 of 22 passing for 169 yards and one touchdown. Freshman Drake Irwin (Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS) was 2 of 3 passing for 12 yards with freshman Hayden Slegers (Ontario, Ca./Ontario Christian HS) 1 of 2 for 5 yards.

Ritsema had five catches for 82 yards while Hogan had five catches for 45 yards.

Senior Paul VanderPloeg (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) had a big game on defense for the Knights with a career-high 16 tackles. Freshman Gage Jones (Ludington Mich./Ludington HS) tallied a career-high 13 tackles. Freshman Trevor Martens (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville HS) matches a career-high in tackles with 12. Senior Isaac Noorthouse (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian HS) had a career-high 10 tackles. Freshman Carson Schnurstein (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) chipped in with eight tackles.

Hope was paced in the rushing department by Tyler Amos with 125 yards and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Ben Wellman had 72 yards rushing and a touchdown and 220 yards passing with one score. Cole Luhman was the top tackler for Hope with 10 tackles.

COACHES COMMENT: "I give Hope credit for putting together a good game plan and executing that game plan to get the win. They are a very good team. We talked at halftime about doing a better job of finishing drives and I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half. We didn't win on the scoreboard but there are a lot of positives to take from this game. Overall I'm just very proud of the way our team battled. All the credit to our guys for going up against a nationally-ranked team and not backing down. It was great for our players to get a taste of this rivalry after watching it take place in so many other sports over the last year. Now that they have gotten a taste of it, the rivalry will continue to build."

NEXT UP: Calvin will conclude its season next Saturday against Albion when the Knights host the Britons at 1 p.m. at Eagles Stadium.