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Football Quakers suffer heartbreaking Homecoming loss For Immediate Release: RICHMOND, Ind. — A hard-fought defensive battle between the Earlham College football team and Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon ended in an overtime thriller with the Quakers falling 16-13 in front of an excited Homecoming audience at M.O. Ross Field. It was the first overtime game in school history since the National Collegiate Athletic Association began playing extra periods in the mid 1990s. With the score tied 10-10 in the North Coast Athletic Conference contest, Earlham began the overtime period with a 26-yard field goal by senior Carlos Bustamante (Indianapolis, IN/Broad Ripple) on its first possession. When the Lords took over they eventually faced fourth down and five, which they converted. On the next play, Rafael Sanchez ran an 11-yard quarterback draw and crossed the goal line for the decisive score. “It was a heartbreaking loss, but it was a great effort by our players for the Homecoming crowd,” Earlham head coach Gerry Keesling said. Earlham was lead offensively by sophomore running back Manny Myers (Fairmount, IN/Madison-Grant). Myers established a season record for all-purpose yardage (rushing, receiving and return yards) with 1,393 yards by rushing for 201 yards on 38 carries (also Earlham record for a game). “The offensive line and Randy (Kerns) helped out a lot,” Myers said. “All I do is hit the hole.” Tuan Lee set the season record of 1,231 all-purpose yards in 1994. John Henderson held the rushing attempt mark with 35 against Campbellsville in 1988. The play of first-year quarterback Randy Kerns (West Manchester, OH/National Trail) contributed to the Earlham’s offensive success. Kerns finished with 175 yards passing by completing 21 of 33 attempts with one touchdown and one interception. “I feel more comfortable,” he said. “Establishing the run and play action passing was important for us today.” Also contributing to the passing game were junior James Jewell (Gary, IN/Roosevelt), who hauled in six catches for 74 yards and senior Joe Rihm (Beech Grove, IN/Beech Grove), who caught a 13-yard touchdown pass for the Quakers in the fourth quarter that tied the contest at 10-10. Defensively, senior inside linebacker Mike Thompson (Riverview, FL/East Bay) led the Quakers with 14 tackles. Fellow senior linebacker Stephen Groce (Gary, IN/Roosevelt) and senior tackle Jerdson Gamble (Indianapolis, IN/Tech) added six tackles each. The Quakers had a goal-line stand at the end of regulation with junior Kenny Kincy (Kokomo, IN/Kokomo) stopping a Kenyon runner near the end zone on the final play of the fourth quarter. The scoring began with a 31-yard field goal by Bustamante with 11:13 left in the second quarter, which gave the Quakers a 3-0 lead. Kenyon quickly answered with a 41-yard touchdown scamper by sophomore quarterback Rafeal Sanchez, who entered the game as the fifth leading rusher in the conference. Sanchez finished with 116 yards on 18 carries and adding the game-winning touchdown in overtime. Kenyon led 7-3 at intermission and added a field goal in the third quarter that gave the Lords a 10-3 advantage before the Quakers tied the game. The final game of the season for Earlham (1-8,
0-6) is next Saturday against Allegheny College, as the Quakers
honor their
seniors. The NCAC contest
begins at 1 p.m. |
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Earlham College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |