Box score

RICHMOND, Ind. — Saturday's snow turned into mud and the Earlham College football team couldn't overcome the conditions in the second half as the Quakers finished the season with a 25-10 loss to Denison University in Darrell Beane Stadium.

“I'm proud of our football team,” Earlham Head Coach Gerry Keesling said. “Denison was built for terrible conditions.”

The Quakers led 10-6 at intermission of the North Coast Athletic Conference contest, but Denison scored twice in the third period to build an 18-10 advantage. “We played extremely well in the first half, but we just couldn't move the ball,” Keesling said. “As the field got worse and our production got worse. You are going to have that happen when you throw the football.”

Earlham ran nine plays deep in its own territory in the third quarter and gained three yards. “The field position in the third quarter when we were pinned back in the mud was difficult,” Keesling said. “We just didn't do a very job.”

Saturday's game wasn't the way Keesling wanted the careers of Tilmon Clark (Winchester, IN/Winchester), Juan Hernandez (Kendallville, IN/East Noble), Drew Hosier (Gas City, IN/Mississenewa), Randy Kerns(West Manchester, OH/National Trail), Ben Marschand (Galveston, IN/Lewis Cass), Colin McCullough (Gary, IN/Hammond Noll) and Chris Owens (Ft. Thomas, KY/Highlands) to end on Senior Day.

“I'm proud of this senior group,” he said. “They did a great job of pulling us through the 0-5 start. They are a lot of teams who would have folded these guys battled every single week.”

The Quakers finish the season at 4-6 overall with a 4-3 mark in the NCAC. Dension ends at 6-4, 4-3. The 4-3 record in the conference is the best for Earlham since the Quakers posted the same mark in 2002.

Even with the loss, the Quakers stayed in third place in the NCAC, which is the highest since joining the conference in 1989. The Quakers finish in a four-way tie with Denison, Wittenberg University (6-4, 4-3) and Allegheny College (5-5, 4-3).

An Early Lead

Earlham started the game by scoring on a 13-play, 67-yard drive on its first possession. Kerns hit sophomore Austin Manahan (Orlando, FL/University School) for a 3-yard touchdown pass to give the Quakers a 7-0 advantage after junior Max Crumley-Effinger (Richmond, IN/Richmond) kicked the extra point.

The Big Red rallied to score a touchdown midway through the second period, but they couldn't convert the PAT and the Quakers maintained a 7-6 lead. Crumley-Effinger then added a 25-yard field goal to make it 10-6 with 6:03 left in the half.

Earlham ended the second quarter by blocking a Denison field goal try, but the Quakers couldn't keep the momentum going in the third quarter as the Big Red used their ground attack and defense to gain control of the contest in the second half.

Kerns completed 6-of-19 passes for 21 yards and one touchdown to finish the season 203-of-341 for 2,368 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Marschand gained 38 yards rushing in eight attempts to end the fall as Earlham's top runner with 705 yards and five touchdowns.

Owens had two receptions on Saturday for three yards led the Quakers with 59 grabs this season for 702 yards, while catching six touchdown passes.

Crumley-Effinger ended the season by making a record 36-of-37 extra points this fall. He owns the career mark having converted 66-of-69 in two years. Sophomore Nick Cummings (Rolling Prairie, IN/New Prairie) led the Quakers in rushing on Saturday with 59 yards on three carries.

Defensively, sophomore Ben Randall (Milford, OH/Milford) led the way for Earlham with 12 tackles, while junior Alex Painter (New Haven, IN/Ft. Wayne Snider) added 11 tackles, including a sack.