ADRIAN — The Joe Palka era got off to a sluggish start as Adrian College found itself in a 20-0 hole early, but the Bulldogs regrouped and ran away with the win against Elmhurst Saturday, 55-20.
The Adrian defense stood tall all game long as only one of the three touchdowns for the Blue Jays were by the offense. Elmhurst got a pick-6 and then blocked a field goal and returned it for another score.
After the blocked field goal, Adrian fumbled the kickoff and the Blue Jays pounced on it and threw a 30-yard touchdown on the next play.
"We made a lot of mistakes, we're a very young team," Palka said. "We just had to settle down. There was still five minutes left in the first quarter and we talk about playing a full 60. There was a lot of football left to go."
There was a lot more scoring left to go, and it was all down by the Bulldogs as they finished the game with eight touchdowns and 519 yards of total offense while the defense held Elmhurst to 167 total yards.
Graduate transfer from Northwood, Jake Kelbert, was 16-of-26 passing for 182 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 106 yards and three more scores. Junior transfer from Ann Arbor Concordia, Shondel Hardnett, rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown. Jalen Wallace caught eight passes for 111 yards and a touchdown.
Mike White, Dantae Banton, Darel Washington and Terrell May each had a sack while Maddox Woods forced a fumble and Braylen Thomas had an interception. Trey Brueggemann led the Bulldogs with seven tackles.
Marian 31, Siena Heights 9
Five first-half turnovers spelled disaster for Siena Heights football, but failing to score a touchdown in the second half put the lid on the Saints in the loss to No. 7 Marian.
The Saints fired two interceptions and fumbled three times in the first half but only trailed by one score at the half.
"You aren't going to beat anybody, let alone a team ranked among the top 10 in the country, with seven turnovers," coach Matt Kohn said.
Marian took advantage of the first turnover to kick a field goal for a 3-0 lead early. Siena Heights, however, came back to take a 7-3 lead when Elijah Taylor found a wide-open Chris Coleman from 42 yards out with 1:34 left in the first quarter.
Marian took the lead on a 20-yard interception return in the second quarter, then added a short touchdown to make it 17-7. The Saints got a safety just before halftime after a blocked punt to pull within 17-9.
The Knights scored twice in the third quarter while the Saints couldn’t put together a drive.
Jack Fitzgerald had an interception for the Saints in the fourth quarter at the Marian 26-yard line, but the Saints turned the ball over on downs. SHU had the ball inside the Knight 25-yard line with over three minutes to play, but an interception — the sixth Saints turnover — turned the ball back over to the Knights.
Siena Heights finished with 244 yards of offense, compared to 271 for Marian. Taylor was 16-for-32 for 195 yards through the air.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian College football battles back, pulls away from Elmhurst in Joe Palka's debut
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