Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
The 2016 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opener threw a little bit of everything at the Hope College football team.
A lengthy lightning delay. Plenty of rain. And lastly, a tough opponent.
The Flying Dutchmen nearly overcame them all before falling 15-13 to Olivet College, last season's Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association co-champion, on Saturday at Smith Stadium.
Olivet (3-1) took the lead on a 75-yard touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, then ran out the final 5 minutes, 4 seconds with a 10-play drive that featured two third-down conversions.
Head coach Peter Stuursma said he thought the Flying Dutchmen (1-3) played their tails off against a darn good football team.
"That's an outfit that's going to challenge for the league title, our guys went nose-to-nose with them," Stuursma said. "It's just…we didn't have enough."
Junior running back Mike Miklusicak of Wayland, Michigan (Wayland HS) led the Hope offense with 71 yards rushing and one touchdown on 10 carries. He scored a 10-yard run with 3:21 left in the third quarter to give the Flying Dutchmen their first lead at 13-9.
Junior Darren Ford of Howell, Michigan (Howell) kicked field goals of 35 and 39 yards in conditions that were challenging at times.
The Hope defense turned away Olivet twice from 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line twice during the game.
Senior defensive back Andy Lucas of McBain, Michigan (McBain) and senior linebacker Aaron O'Meara topped the Flying Dutchmen with 13 and 12 tackles, respectively.
The game was stopped for an hour with 2:43 remaining in the first quarter because of lightning.
"Our defense did an outstanding job, there were barely any penalties, virtually no turnovers for that type of condition and I can't say enough about our guys, they competed," Stuursma said.
Hope returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 8 with a 1:30 p.m. game at Alma.