Calvin University

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Calvin used a 488-yard first half explosion to sail past St. Norbert Saturday afternoon 49-7 at Calvin Soccer Stadium.

Juniors Hunter Hogan (Ravenna, Mich./Ravena HS) and Thomas Vaccaro (Franklin, Tenn./Christ Presbyterian) highlighted the offensive outburst for Calvin (2-0).

Hogan gained 181 all-purpose yards while scoring four touchdowns. Hogan rushed four times for 79 yards and a pair of scores while grabbing four passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns. In doing so, Hogan went over the 1,000-yard mark in both career passing and receiving yards. He boosted his career reception yardage total to 1,088 and his career rushing yardage total to 1,048. In addition, he now has 21 career touchdowns in 21 career games.

Vaccaro was 20 of 27 passing for 341 yards and four touchdowns. In addition to hitting Hogan on 68 and eight-yard scoring strikes, he also connected with junior Luke Michmerhuizen (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) for six and 11-yard touchdown passes. Michmerhuizen boosted his career touchdown reception tally to 16 which stands atop Calvin's career list.

Hogan scored on Calvin's first play from scrimmage, reeling in a long pass up the left sideline from Vaccaro and outracing the secondary for a 68-yard score. The point-after failed and moments later, St. Norbert grabbed a 7-6 lead on a 70-yard touchdown bomb up the right sideline from Green Knights quarterback Fernando Rodriguez to Nick White. St. Norbert converted the extra-point to take a one-point lead.

It was all Calvin from that point, however. Hogan broke loose for both of his rushing touchdowns still in the first quarter. Michmerhuizen then snared a six-yard fade in the corner of the end zone with just 20 seconds left in the quarter, helping Calvin gain a 25-7 lead.

Hogan collected his 18-yard touchdown pass from Vaccaro midway through the second quarter and Michmerhuizen followed with an 11-yard grab just inside the back corner of the end zone with 50 seconds left in the half. The point-after by junior Sal Ruffino (Shelby Township, Mich./Eisenhower HS) lifted Calvin into a 39-7 halftime lead.

Ruffino added a 22-yard third quarter field goal while junior M'Khi Guy (Muskegon Heights, Mich./Muskegon HS) grabbed a five-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter from sophomore quarterback Beau Harris (Coopersville, Mich./Coopersville HS) to close out the scoring. The touchdown grab was the first of Guy's Calvin career while the touchdown pass was the second Calvin touchdown toss for Harris.

After the opening score by the Green Knights, Calvin's defense shut down St. Norbert's triple-option offense. The visiting Green Knights (0-2) finished with just 195 yards of offense, 190 through the air and just five on the ground.

Freshman Nolan Bloomquist (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) had five tackles including one tackle for loss. Junior Isiah Hill (Dowagiac, Mich./Dowagiac HS) had a pair of tackles for loss as did junior Peter Markvluwer (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS). Junior Caiden Bolduc (Muskegon, Mich./Reeths-Puffer HS) had 1.5 tackles for loss while juniors Ziden Chirco (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS), junior Gage Jones (Ludington, Mich./Ludington HS) and sophomore Amari Powell (Holland, Mich./Holland HS) all had one tackle for loss. Junior Caden Kolanowski (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) had two interceptions including a cumulative 57 yards on the two returns.

On offense, Calvin finished with 319 rushing yards led by Hogan's 79 yards while junior Hayden Slegers (Ontario, Ca./Ontario Christian HS) had 65 yards, junior Nick Earles (Greenville, Mich./Greenville HS) 57 yards and freshman Hunter Wilder (Whitehall, Mich./North Muskegon HS) 35 yards.

Harris was 3-of-4 passing fr 20 yards and a touchdown in relief of Vaccaro in the second half. Calvin had 361 passing yards as a team. Michmerhuizen had four receptions for 41 yards. Junior Aiden O'Brien (Lawton, Mich./Lawton HS) had three grabs for 72 yards including a 50-yard reception from Vaccaro. Junior Carter Bylsma (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) had three receptions for 27 yards with Slegers snaring two balls for 31 yards and Guy two balls for 11 yards. Junior Drake Irwin (Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS) also had a 37-yard reception while his former high school teammate Michael DeKuiper (Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS) had a grab for 13 yards. Earles had a grab for 13 yards, freshman Sean Foley (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel Catholic Central) a catch for nine yards and sophomore Gavin Currie (Ada, Mich./Rockford HS) a catch for five yards.

Junior Logan Nap (Lawton, Mich./Lawton HS) had one punt for 37 yards.

St. Norbert was led by Rodriguez who was 12 of 20 passing for a touchdown. Jacob McVane had four catches for 49 yards while White had three catches for 88 yards. Seth Evans led the St. Norbert defense with nine tackles.

COACHES COMMENT: "I was really proud with the way our team played," said Calvin head football coach Trent Figg who evened his career coaching record at Calvin to 11-11 with Saturday's win. "The first half was a little bit sloppy for us. We challenged the guys at halftime to play to a standard on every play and I thought we finished really strong in the second half. As a team, that was one of the most complete efforts we have put together. St. Norbert is a good football team with an excellent coaching staff. I'm proud with the way our guys executed and I'm proud of our coaching staff. I thought the game plan they put together this week was outstanding."

NEXT UP: Calvin will travel to Franklin College (Ind.) next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. non-conference contest.