by Robert Youngs, Jr.

Kalamazoo College seesawed with the visiting Trine Thunder on Saturday, but it was the visitors leaving with the spoils of a 30-20 win.

Trine scored the go-ahead touchdown on a one-yard rush by quarterback Ryan Hargraves to go up 24-20 with 5:28 remaining in the third. A 34-yard first down pass completion from Hargraves to JaVontae Hence was important to the drive.

Early in the fourth, Thunder placekicker Tyler Keck booted a 40-yard field goal to extend the lead to 27-20. Keck kicked another field goal just a little over five minutes later, this time from 27 yards, to make it 30-20.

After Trine took a 17-0 lead early, K answered back in the second quarter with a 50-yard run by quarterback Aaron McGuire, a 24-yard pass to a leaping Josh Wise, and a seven-yard pass in the third to Alex Dietrich from McGuire to take the lead, 20-17 in the third.

"We were dead on the sideline and the offense really picked us up," said Hornets coach Jamie Zorbo. "I thought they played their best football, to date, in the second quarter.

Now, we just have to find a way to build off of that and play more consistently," he added.

Dietrich's touchdown reception was on the Hornets' opening drive of the second half, but K could not stay on the field to answer Trine's second half scoring.

Kalamazoo lost a fumble with 4:07 remaining in the contest, allowing the Thunder to chew more game clock. Late in the game, a 20-yard completion to Jimmy Frye from McGuire excited the crowd, as Frye made the grab lying on his back at the Trine 15 yard line.

Attempting to make it close late, K would get to the 10-yard line after Mikael Lott was interfered with in the end zone. A play later, Lott's helmet came off and, per new NCAA rules, a 10-second run-off of the clock extinguished any hope for the Hornets.

Dimeko Price led the Hornets on the ground in the loss, rushing 15 times for 81 yards and a long of 15. K out-gained the visitors on the ground, 170-130.

McGuire passed 30 times, completing 19-for-208 yards and two scores. Josh Wise grabbed six receptions for 86 yards and a score. Colin Leffert had five receptions for 31 yards and Dan Grost had three grabs for 35 yards.

Blake Simon led the Kalamazoo defense with 11 tackles, eight of them solo and one for loss. Thomas Tabor added seven stops, five of them solo. Octavius Sanders added five stops, all of them solo.

Kalamazoo (3-2, 0-1 MIAA) is idle until Oct. 13, when it travels to Albion. 

"It's so important for us to have the bye week this time of year," Zorbo said.  "Guys are dinged up and we'll use that time to get healed."