RICHMOND, Ind. — The Earlham College football team dropped a tight contest 28-14 on Saturday to Hanover College.

The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest in Darrell Beane Stadium was tied 14-14 at the intermission before the Panthers (4-4, 4-2) added a pair of touchdowns in the second half.

After the Panthers took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, the Quakers responded with a pair of big plays.

The Quakers were forced to punt and the boot by Alec Dews hit a Hanover player and was recovered by Dumont Schmidt at the Hanover 46-yard line.

On the next play, the Quakers executed a Hook and Lateral to perfection. Jalen Kenner grabbed a 5-yard pass from Matt Couch and Kenner tossed to the ball to Leslie Dunlap who raced the remaining 41 yards for the score to tie the game.

Justin Darden ended Hanover's next possesion with a 43-yard interception return to the Hanover 9-yard line to set up Earlham's next score. Couch ran two yards to give the Quakers a 14-7 advantag.

Hanover scored on its final possesion of the second quarter to tie the affair at 14-14.

The Quakers had a couple of chances to score in the second half, but Hanover was able to score once in each period to get the win.
Couch completed 18-of-34 passes for 179 yards, while Kenner was the top receiver with eight catches for 72 yards.

For the season, Kenner has 60 receptions for 859 yards and six touchdowns. Kenner is apporoaching a pair of school records. James Jewell hold the mark for catches in the a season with 65 in 2003. Chris Owens set the yardage standard with 909 in 2006.

Lance Sherwood finished with five catches for 30 yards.  

Lajay Kelly led Earlham's defense with 12 tackles. Schmidt and Kaleb Lingg finished with 10 stops each.

The Quakers (2-6, 1-5) play their final road game of the season next Saturday at the College of Mount St. Joseph. The HCAC contest gets underway at 1:30 p.m.