Mequon, Wis. – The Calvin football team dropped a 34-24 decision at Concordia University Saturday afternoon.

The Knights held a 10-3 lead early but trailed 17-13 at halftime. After falling behind 24-13 in the third, Calvin rallied to tie the game 24-24 heading into the final quarter of play. Concordia was able to come up with 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.

Concordia (1-0) marched the ball downfield on its opening possession, but the Calvin defense stiffened, forcing a short field goal that put the host Falcons up 3-0. The Knights responded with a 7-play, 79-yard drive, culminated by a nine-yard touchdown toss from senior Chase Bradman (Kentwood, Mich./South Christian HS) to freshman Hunter Hogan (Ravenna, Mich./Ravenna HS) that put Calvin up 7-3 midway through the first quarter.

Hogan then stepped up on defense, intercepting a pass by Concordia quarterback Roman Funk on the Falcon 35-yard line. The turnover kicked off a 12-play drive capped off by a 24-yard field goal by freshman Sal Ruffino (Shelby Twp., Mich./Eisenhower HS), giving Calvin a 10-3 lead.

Concordia answered with a 19-yard touchdown run by Funk to tie the score 10-10 early in the second. A 41-yard field by Ruffino put Calvin back up 13-10. Calvin's defense stepped up to force a three-and-out and a punt. The Concordia punt proved to be a momentum changer however as the Falcons forced a fumble on the return and took the loose ball 19 yards for a touchdown and a 17-13 lead.

Concordia intercepted a Calvin pass in the opening minute of the third quarter and used the short field to score a short rushing touchdown to build a 24-13 lead.

The Knights responded with a lengthy drive before settling for a short field goal by Ruffino to make it 24-16 with 9:30 left in the third quarter.

Calvin came up with a defensive stand to force the Falcons into a punt and the Knights marched 90 yards down the field over eight plays with Bradman diving in from the one yard line to make it 24-22. Bradman then whipped a pass on the two-point conversion attempt to freshman Seth Ritsema (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian HS) who secured the grab inches above the turf to tie the game at 24.

Early in the fourth quarter, Concordia regained the lead at 31-24 on a 7-yard touchdown pass by Funk. A subsequent Calvin drive stalled out on the Concordia 26-yard line with the Falcons responding with a time-eating march that concluded with a short field goal to make it 34-24 with 1:03 left on the clock. Calvin had one long drive left, but a field goal attempt was off the mark in the dying seconds, sealing the win for the Falcons.

Calvin had 447 yards of offense including 305 through the air via the right arm of Bradman who was 27 of 45 passing. Freshman Luke Michmerhuizen (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) was a prime target, snaring eight passes for 141 yards. Hogan also caught eight passes for 51 yards while freshman Carter Bylsma (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) had three catches for 47 yards and Ritsema four catches for 41 yards. Senior Jaier Harden (Grand Rapids, Mich./Innovation Central) led the ground game, running 15 times for 92 yards.

Hogan stuffed the stat sheet playing both sides of the ball. In addition to his 51 yards receiving, he ran the ball twice for seven yards, made six tackles on defense and intercepted two passes.

Junior linebacker Charlie Garbowski (Royal Oak, Mich./Troy HS) had a team-high 12 tackles while freshman Carson Schnurstein (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) had nine tackles for the Knights. Freshmen Isaac Northouse (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian HS) and Jaden Lewis (Spring, Tx./Legacy School of Sports Science) combined for one sack on the pass rush.

Concordia had over 460 yards of offense with Funk throwing for 221 yards on 17 of 25 passing. Concordia also rushed for 245 yards on the ground including 121 from senior Ashar Thomas.

COACHES COMMENT: "Hats off to Concordia," said Calvin head football coach Trent Figg. "Their coaches and players did a great job today. It was a battle for four quarters, and I am so proud of the way our guys competed. Losing hurts, and this game is no exception. There is a lot to be learned from this game today, and our players can hold their heads high knowing that we have come a long way in four weeks. Four weeks ago, this team had never worked together, and you can see from today that we have the right guys and we are headed in the right direction. We will learn from this film and then quickly turn our full attention to Anderson University and we prepare for another road trip this coming week. A big thanks to all our fans who made the trip over to Milwaukee. The support from Knight Nation is second to none!"

NEXT UP: Calvin will travel to Anderson University (Ind.) next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. contest.