Football Stumbles in Home Opener with Albion

DEFIANCE, OHIO - The Purple and Gold welcomed Albion on a warm Saturday afternoon for the 2018 season opener at Justin F. Coressel Stadium. The Yellow Jackets came up short in the contest as they fell 59-6 to the Britons.

Defiance (0-1 overall) accrued 194-yards of offense in the contest with 159 coming through the air. Freshman Ryan Freeman (Palm Coast, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast) led the aerial attack with 126 total yards and a touchdown.

The Britons would win the coin toss to open the 2018 season and defer to the second half giving the Purple and Gold the chance to score first. On its opening drive, Defiance would hand-off to senior Corey Bennett (Tampa, Fla./Blake) who rushed for 10-yards to the Defiance 37 before being brought down by the Briton secondary. 

The Yellow Jackets continued to click as Freeman found freshman Duttch Blake (Pontiac, Mich.) for a 13-yard hookup giving DC another first down and placing them in Albion territory at the 49-yard line. Defiance didn't let up as they pused the ball down the field with a completion to freshman Brandon Hicks (Shelby Twp. Mich./Romeo) before the Briton defense came up with a pair of stops on third and fourth down, respectively.

The two teams would remain scoreless for the next two series before Albion was finally able to punch in a score with 9:05 to play in the first quarter. The Britons traveled 26-yards on three plays. 

Freeman looked to get something going on the following possession as he found junior Jason Santora (Avon) streaking the sideline for an 11-yard pick up and a DC first down to their on 36-yard line. 

Senior Wyatt Cadmus (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) tried to get the run game going on the next play as he scampered for 5-yards to put the Jackets in Albion territory. However, the drive would stall once again as Freeman would fall in the back field on back-to-back plays.

Albion wasted little time extending its lead as a 38-yard completion between quarterback Kyle Thomas and wide receiver Collin Poore setup the go ahead score, 14-0.

The Purple and Gold would find the end zone in the second quarter as they traveled 55-yards on seven plays under the direction for Freeman. Staring a fourth and 10 square in the face, Freeman dropped back into the pocket and found Santora in the end zone for a 40-yard completion and score, 14-6.

However, Albion would continue to bring the pressure as they responded with another score of their own to extend the lead to 21-6.

The Britons went on to score seven more times in the contest, including three scores in the second half en route to the season-opening victory.

As a team, Albion posted 600-total yards of offense with 210 coming on the ground.

Defiance returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 8 as they welcome Hope College to Justin F. Coressel Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1:30 pm.