How Hope College football earned rare season-opening win with leap in final seconds

HOLLAND - The season opener for the Hope College football team started promising, looked daunting, then ended with an incredible finish.

Trailing by three possessions early in the second half, Hope never gave up, kept the game close and Kenyea Houston leaped into the end zone in the final seconds to give the Flying Dutchmen a thrilling 38-34 comeback win over Aurora (Ill.) on Saturday afternoon at Ray & Sue Smith Stadium.

"Time (seemed like) it did stop. We had it blocked well and I just jumped and got in there," Houston said. "It means a lot. We haven't won an opener very often, especially at home. This gives us some momentum for the season."

It was just the second time since 2013 that Hope won it season opener.

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Down 17 after 27 unanswered points by Aurora, a fourth quarter surge by Hope completely turned around the season opener.

"It is huge. It has been a long time since we won an opener against a really good football team. It makes all the difference in the world to get out of the gate like that," Hope coach Peter Stuursma said. "The last two years have been hard on these guys. I don't care what anyone says, it has been hard. To see them explode and enjoy is one of the greatest things in coaching. They put the time in effort, and to see that joy is the best feeling in the world."

Terrell Harris had 175 yards receiving and two scores, while TJ McKenzie had 11 catches for 151 yards and a score.

"Those two guys are playmakers, and when you get it within their zip code, they are going to find a way," Stuursma said. "But everyone made a play when we needed it, and that says a lot about our team."

Houston had 54 rushing yards on 14 carries. Chase Brown was 28-for-44 passing for 439 yards and three touchdowns.

"It isn't over till it's over. If there is time on that clock, there is still football to play," Houston said. "We went out and played for each other, and turned it around - just like that."

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Frantic, epic comeback

But midway through the fourth quarter, Hope found some new life, finally getting a turnover. Adam Vanderkooy intercepted a pass with a one-handed leaping catch near the end zone just as Aurora was marching down the field.

The Flying Dutchmen marched right down the field, sparked by a pass to Harris.

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Aurora's first penalty of the game, illegal substitution, put the Flying Dutchmen on the 24-yard line.

TJ McKenzie caught a pass from Brown and danced around and over two defenders and scampered into the end zone as Hope pulled within 34-31 with 5:21 to go in the fourth.

The Hope defense held, forcing a punt to give the ball back to the Flying Dutchmen down by three with 3:10 to go.

Hope marched past midfield and got a first down at the Aurora 38-yard line with 1:36 to go.

Passes to McKenzie and Kareem Williams set up a Kenyea Houston run down to the 3-yard line with 46 seconds remaining.

Houston scored leaping into the end zone from 1-yard out with 32 seconds remaining.

Vanderkooy sealed the game with another interception.

"It says a lot. It shows that the offense has trust in the defense and vice versa," Houston said. "We had some bad plays defensively and offensively, but we bailed each other out and came out with the 'W.'"

Second quarter woes

After moving the ball quickly in the first quarter, leading 10-0, everything collapsed int he second quarter for the Flying Dutchmen.

The offense sputtered, especially with a couple of key penalties backing up drives that looked promising. Tight end Eric Hoogland was called for an unneccesary roughness penalty in the end zone after a pass was out of his reach. He was tangled up with an Aurora player, but as happens often in sports, the referees only saw the retaliation. It backed up a near-red zone offensive drive back to near midfield.

Meanwhile, the defense was stellar in the first quarter but allowed two long Aurora touchdown passes from Josh Swanson to Trey Madsen, as a 10-0 lead quickly turned into a 14-10 deficit.

After the penalty, Swanson immediately hit Cameron Moore for a 40-yard pass deep into Hope territory. Swanson then hit James Mautino for a 13-yard score and it was 21-10, 21 unanswered points.

Hope allowed just 49 yards in the first quarter and no scores. In the second quarter, the Flying Dutchmen allowed 185 yards and three touchdowns.

The quarter ended with a Hope missed field goal attempt as nothing seemed to go right in the second.

"You don't want to ever dig yourself in a hole, and we shot ourselves in the foot a couple times," Stuursma said. "We got down inside the red zone and we had a penalty. Then we had another penalty. You can't do those things against good teams, and that is a good team. But we knew there was a lot of football left. I didn't feel like we were that far off. It was little things and our margin of error is so small."

Swanson finished 19-for-29 passing for 320 yards and five touchdowns.

Trading big strikes

The Spartans started the second half with another scoring drive, pushing their run to 27 unanswered points.

Then Hope finally answered on a 74-yard TD pass from Brown to Harris and the Flying Dutchmen pulled within 27-17 with 8:08 to go in the third.

But Aurora answered with a 79-yard pass from Swanson to a wide open Michael Boland and the Spartans returned to a 34-17 lead.

Between the teams it was the third touchdown in a 42-second span.

On Hope's next possession, Daniel Romano scored a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal after a drive that included a big strike from Brown to TJ McKenzie. Hope pulled within 34-24 and kept within striking distance.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: How Hope College football earned rare season-opening win in final seconds