ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University football team opened their 2023 campaign with a hard-fought 14-3 victory over Adrian College Saturday afternoon at Langhorst Field.

Elmhurst (1-0) earned their first season-opening victory since the 2018 season thanks to a strong defensive front that smothered the Bulldogs' (0-1) offense all game. The game is also the first win for head coach Mike Murray as the leader of the Bluejays' football program.

The Bluejays used a strong defensive front to limit Adrian to just a field goal in the contest, with returning First Team All-CCIW performer Bryce Gable putting up a monster stat line that included nine tackles (five solo, four assisted), a forced fumble, and a 54-yard interception that the graduate student took into the endzone. Charles Scott led the Bluejays with 10 total tackles (five solo, five assisted), while Justin Harris and Etor Agbenya each recorded a tackle-for-loss. Connor Devries also recorded an interception on the afternoon.

Offensively, Andrey Acosta completed 13 of his 20 passing attempts for 123 yards, while Aiden Pollock recorded 38 rushing yards and a touchdown in the game. Max McCarville led the Bluejay wide receiver group with three receptions totaling 40 yards, while RJ Anderson tallied four receptions for 29 yards.

The Bulldogs found success in the game on the ground, totaling 151 rushing yards with Salvatore Patierno leading Adrian with 58 rushing yards, while quarterback Brady Raymond totaled 12 completions on 20 attempts for 97 yards and a pair of interceptions. Defensively, Randall Broome tallied ten tackles on the afternoon, and Chaun Tolbert recorded an interception for the Bulldogs.

Elmhurst began the game with a lengthy drive which saw no result, but the Bluejay defense was able to capitalize on the ensuing drive by Adrian, with Gable jumping in front of a pass from the Bulldogs and returning the interception 54 yards to put the Bluejays up 7-0 near the end of the first period.

In the second quarter, both teams traded possessions before Adrian got on the board with a 21-yard field goal, cutting the score to 7-3 in favor of Elmhurst. After a broken play on the ensuing kickoff allowed the Bulldogs to gain the ball back with less than a minute remaining in Elmhurst territory, the Bluejays were able to make a huge stand and turned the ball over on downs, leading to a four-point advantage from the home team heading into the break.

After Elmhurst forced the Bulldogs to punt on their opening drive of the second-half, the Bluejays put together a six play, 49-yard drive which ended with Pollock rushing for a three-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 14-3 early in the third quarter. 

In the fourth, with Adrian driving the ball to the Elmhurst 11-yard line threatening to cut into the deficit, Devries jumped an under thrown pass from the Bulldogs' quarterback to regain possession, but an interception just two plays into the ensuing drive gave Adrian the ball back in Elmhurst territory. The two teams traded possessions back-and-forth until a fumble recovery from Andre Hunt with 1:25 remaining sealed the Bluejays' opening victory of the season. 

UP NEXT

Elmhurst will have next weekend off before opening College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play with a trip to Augustana College (Ill.) for a 6:00 p.m. CT kickoff on Saturday, September 16.

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