By Tim Stried, SID
November 2, 2002
Junior running back Jovan Johnson set two school records Saturday afternoon as Bluffton College defeated Franklin College 34-21 in Salzman Stadium.
Johnson scored five touchdowns, all on the ground, for one record, and his 30 points set another record. The previous records of four touchdowns for 24 points had been accomplished 14 different times in BC history.
Bluffton improves to 3-5 on the season and 1-3 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Franklin falls to 2-6 overall and 2-2 in the HCAC after winning back-to-back league games entering Saturday's contest.
The Beavers took a 21-0 lead after Johnson's third touchdown run late in the second quarter, but Franklin found the endzone just before halftime to close the margin to 21-7 at the intermission. Bluffton turned the ball over on their first possession of the third quarter and punted on their next possession, but thanks to two stops by the Bluffton defense, one of which was an interception by sophomore defensive back Matt Chiles, BC was able to hold the lead until the offense got going again, which it did as BC scored touchdowns on three of their final four possessions.
Bluffton set two teams records in an HCAC game as the Beavers rushed the football 68 times for 352 yards.
Following paragraph updated Mon., Nov. 4:
For just the fourth time in school history, three BC players all rushed for over 100 yards as freshman Ben Dodds rushed for a game-high 125 yards, senior quarterback Brad Moore rushed for 120 and Johnson added 105. The last time that feat occurred was in 1988 against Anderson when Greg Gilcrease, Roger Gilanyi and Darryl Gard all went over 100 yards rushing.
Moore added 73 yards passing to give him 193 yards of total offense on the day, which moves him up to third place on the Bluffton career total offense list with 5,709 yards. He needed 99 yards to surpass Cliff Hemmert, who collected 5,614 yards from 1985-88.
Moore averaged 7.5 yards per carry on the day and Dodds averaged 7.4 yards per attempt as Bluffton was an impressive 12-for-19 on third down conversions and held the ball for over six minutes longer than Franklin.
Franklin quarterback Jerremy Neibert entered the game averaging 263 yards passing per game but was held to 203 yards through the air by the Bluffton defense.
Sophomore outside linebacker Andy Tabler recovered both Franklin fumbles, while Chiles and junior middle linebacker Chris Sommers both had interceptions. Sommers led the team with 13 tackles, including a quarterback sack, while senior defensive back Darin Riffle had eight tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pass.
BC is now 3-1 at home this season and will travel to Manchester College next Saturday before ending the 2002 season at home against Defiance College on Nov. 16.