ADRIAN, Mich - Coming off of their heartbreaking last-second loss against Judson on the road last Saturday, the Crusaders' football team returned to Michigan to face the Bulldogs of Adrian College. Now hungrier than ever,
Brett Guminsky's Crusaders set out under the lights of Docking Stadium in hopes of making history. However, the Bulldogs high-powered offense, who scored 55-points in their first game of the season last week, proved to be too much for the Crusaders as they went on to win 38-20.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Crusaders offense looked slightly different this week, as South Carolina State transfer wide receiver
Taurean Singletary came out under center tonight, taking the helm of the Crusader offense. The former three-star quarterback recruit had played out wide for the entirety of his college career before tonight.
Singletary and the offense would take a drive to find their footing as their first drive came in empty. The Bulldogs took advantage, going down and scoring the game's first touchdown. Singletary would answer after getting the ball back. Throwing his first career touchdown pass, Singletary found fellow transfer Imaurion Kelly for a 33-yard house call. A missed extra point attempt would leave the Crusaders still trailing 7-6.
The Bulldogs would find the endzone once more before the conclusion of the first quarter, ending the first fifteen minutes of play leading 14-6 over the Crusaders.
In the second quarter, Adrian would control possession, marching all the way down to the Crusaders' five-yard line. Just when it seemed like another Bulldogs' score was inevitable, the Crusaders showed their bend-don't-break philosophy, forcing a fumble recovered by
Tabari Triplett of the Crusaders' secondary.
Just when it seemed like things were back to going the Crusaders' way, their victory would turn out to be short lived, as their offense would fumble the ball right back to the Bulldogs. Taking advantage of the miscue, they would not make the same mistake twice, punching it in for the score and extending their lead to 21-6.
The Crusaders would hold off any further damage before the half, forcing a turnover after a Bulldogs missed field goal. However, they failed to capitalize before the break, going into halftime still trailing 21-6.
The Bulldogs came out fired up in the second half, running up the score to 38-6 on the Crusaders. However, the Crusaders kept on fighting until the very last buzzer.
With just over six minutes remaining, the Crusaders got back into the endzone as running back
Nah'shon Williams punched it in from a yard out. Singletary found Kelly in the endzone once again for the two point conversion to make it a 38-14 game.
As the Bulldogs tried to run out the clock, but the Crusader defense had other ideas. Triplett read the mind of the Bulldogs' quarterback and made an interception to give the Crusaders one last chance on offense. After driving down the field, fullback
Parker Heidt found the endzone for the third time this season. Heidt continues to show out this season with his third touchdown in two games.
While the Crusaders would come up short, their big fourth-quarter gives them hope going forward, as their offense seems to have found it's bread and butter on the ground with Heidt and Williams.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
