HOLLAND – The Hope College football team had never beaten Franklin in its history, but the Flying Dutchmen wasted no time in showing that a new era had dawned.
The Hope offense marched right down the field and scored on its first drive after scoring at will in Week 1—and that trend continued.
The Flying Dutchmen scored on their first six drives and defeated Franklin 48-6 in front of 2,020 spectators at Ray & Sue Smith Stadium on Saturday.
Hope has outscored its first two opponents 97-6. It is the second-highest score through two games in program history, just four points shy of the 101 points it scored in 2019.
Hope totaled 520 yards on offense and 379 yards on the run.
“We were evenly matched,” said Hope coach Peter Stuursma. “We made some mistakes, but we overcame them. If you can overcome something like that, it’s great.”
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The standard has been set, now Hope must prove that it can be just as efficient on the road and in the MIAA.
“We’re just hitting everything. Every job is getting done. There’s no other way to say it — everyone’s doing their jobs right,” Hope running back Chance Strickland said. “Every play is designed to score a touchdown, so every play is successful.”
“This gives us a lot of confidence for the future, because we can only control what we can control.”
Here are the quick takeaways from Hope’s win:
Attack roles
Hope’s offense has been unstoppable in two games.
The Flying Dutchmen marched down the field on the opening drive, scoring on a 5-yard run by Chance Strickland, then quarterback Ben Wellman scored on a 9-yard run.
Zach Trainor came in at quarterback and immediately threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Grant Holzer. Strickland added two more rushing scores and Hope led 34-6 at halftime.
After a fumble on Franklin’s first possession of the second half, Hope scored a touchdown on a run by Tyler Amos.
What do they do well? Everything.
The blocking, running and passing were outstanding – and the change of quarterbacks with Ben Wellman and Zach Trainor throws the teams off balance.
Strickland finished the game with 12 carries for 119 yards and three scores. Amos had 81 yards and a touchdown, while Wellman and Kal Motter also scored a touchdown.
How about a punt?
Hope went the entire first game without punting and did so for most of the second game as well.
Peter Costa’s first punt of the season came in the final seconds of the third quarter in Week 2.
Was he rusty after not punting?
Of course not.
Costa threw a 46-yard punt to the 3-yard line – he seemed to be in mid-season form.
“It was good for him to make a name for himself and he shot the ball inside the 5-yard line, which was great,” Stuursma said.
On the Rise: Hope’s Career Guide
Hope running back Chance Strickland worked his way onto the list of rushing touchdown leaders in school history on Saturday.
With his second touchdown, he tied Shaun Jackson with 30 touchdowns in his career.
But he wasn’t finished yet.
Strickland then moved up to sixth place all-time, tying Brandon Campbell with 31 points.
“I don’t think about it much, but guys always tease me about it. But it’s really a running back group. It’s not me or Tyler or Trent Behrenwald. It could be any of us. Everyone does their job, so it’s easy to figure out where to go. It feels like a group thing.”
Mike Sturm is fifth with 32 points and Ed Cain is fourth with 33. The school record holder is Brandan Graham with 49 points.
“Strickland is a big, strong cat and he always drops forward. But what’s really great for me is Tyler Amos scored a goal and to see the two of them genuinely happy for each other was really special. They want to win and whoever gets the ball to make that happen (so be it),” Stuursma said.
The defense dominates again
The Hope defense forced two turnovers and kept the Grizzlies at bay.
After a shutout in the first game of the season, Franklin scored just one point in the first half, but Hope held the Grizzlies to 132 total yards of offense in the first half, building a 34-6 lead.
Hope stopped Franklin twice on fourth down, including at the goal line late in the third quarter.
Hope allowed a total of 222 yards.
“The only points we gave up were when we gave them the ball inside the 20-yard line. But we were able to keep them inside the 25-yard line for most of the game,” Stuursma said. “Our defense is outstanding — six points in two games is outstanding.”
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’[email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSportp.
