KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College football team won the Wooden Shoes Rivalry for the second consecutive year with a 39-31 win over Hope College at Angell Field on Saturday.
Hope led 17-0 early in the second quarter but the Hornets used two big plays to stay in the game. Elijah Hamilton-Wray scored on a 52-yard pass from Alex White with 5:27 left in the half and Octavius Sanders returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown as time expired to make it a 24-14 game at halftime.
Kalamazoo used a pair of Viet Nguyen field goals and a 5-yard touchdown pass from White to Zak Zagon to take a 27-24 lead after three quarters.
White connected with Collin Feilla on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter to go up 33-24, then scored again when Octavius Sanders picked off another pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown.
Hope scored with 5:51 remaining to make it a 39-31 game, but the Flying Dutchmen turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and their last drive ended in Kalamazoo territory with an interception by BJ Smith. The Hornets were able to use up the clock and ended the game with a punt that rolled dead in Hope territory.
Kalamazoo put up 403 yards of total offense compared to 381 yards for Hope. The Hornets were 9-of-20 on third downs while Hope was 4-of-17.
Alex White finished 33-of-42 passing for 325 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
Elijah Hamilton-Wray finished with 132 yards on 14 catches with a touchdown. K.J. Schultz made eight catches for 82 yards while Collin Feilla had five catches for 87 yards and a score.
Hamilton-Wray led the ground game as well with 26 yards on eight carries. Clay Wilkey finished with 23 yards on 12 carries while White had 19 yards on 13 carries.
Dylan Zerki led the Hornet defense with nine total tackles including three for lost yardage and a sack. Ronnie Russel finished with sseven tackles including one for loss. Octavius Sanders and BJ Smith each had a pair of interceptions while Dylan Calloway and Andrew Thiede each had a sack.