ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst football team scored 13 points on its first three possessions and made the lead stand up, defeating Hope College 13-7 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
 
Hope (0-2) drove to the Elmhurst 20-yard line on the opening possession of the game, but a personal foul penalty a sack by Myles Carroll pushed the ball back to the Elmhurst 45 yard line and force the Flying Dutchmen to punt.
 

Elmhurst took over at their own 10-yard line and promptly drove to the Hope eight-yard line with Josh Williams shouldering the load, accounting for 68 of the Bluejays' 80 yards on the drive. The Bluejays settled for a 27-yard field goal from Brett Bayer to grab an early 3-0 lead.

Following a Hope punt, the Bluejays moved 73 yards in seven plays, grabbing a 10-0 lead after Williams scored on an 18-yard touchdown run.

The Bluejays' defense forced another Hope punt and Elmhurst's offense drove 56 yards in 13 plays before settling for Bayer's second 27-yard field goal of the day.
 
Elmhurst was forced to punt near the end of the half, and Hope's two-minute offense took over as Rob Kish directed a five-play, 55-yard drive capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jake Helm with just 20 seconds left on the clock. The late score cut Elmhurst's lead to 13-7 at the half.
 
The Bluejays' dominated in the opening half, totaling 223 yards and over 20 minutes of time of possession, while limiting Hope to just 112 yards of offense.
 
Hope started strong in the second half, forcing the Blueajys to punt on two straight three-and-outs. The Flying Dutcmen mounted a 12-play drive down to the Elmhurst 24-yard line, but facing a fourth-and-10, Matt Kroll was unable to come down inbounds on pass play from Kish, giving the ball back to Elmhurst on downs.
  
Elmhurst took over on downs and ground out the final 2:47 of the contest with Williams ripping off a pair of 21-yard runs to help seal the victory.
 
The Bluejays finished the game with 382 yards of total offense, pounding the ball on the ground for 318 rushing yards. Elmhurst also controlled the clock for the second straight week, owning a 38-22 minute advantage in time of possession.
 
Williams was the Bluejays' workhorse, carrying 33 times for 243 yards and a touchdown. Zach Campbell completed 6-of-11 passes for 48 yards before an injury forced him from the game. Drew Domino completed 2-of-3 passes in relief for 16 yards.  Garrett Claxon caught a team-leading three passes for 34 yards.
 
Hope totaled 286 yards of offense, accounting for 84 yards on the ground while passing for 202. Chris Leigh led the ground attack with 75 yards on 10 carries. Kish completed 14-of-31 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown. Kroll was Kish's go-to target, catching nine passes for 145 yards.
 
Sean Wetherell paced Elmhurst's defense, totaling a team-leading 10 tackles, including one sack. Andy Warsen added eight stops and Charlie Kreager totaled five stops. Elmhurst won the turnover battle for a second straight week, finishing with a plus one ratio.
 
Elmhurst has a week off before wrapping up the non-conference portion of its schedule on September 26, at Simpson College.