The Hope College football team made it into the top-10 national rankings for the first time in program history this week.
Then the Flying Dutch backed that up with a dominating performance that looked like a top-10 team.
No. 9 Hope crushed Alma 38-3 on Saturday, Oct. 24, on the road, moving to 7-0 and 4-0 in the MIAA.
Alma fell to 2-5 and 2-2 in the MIAA. The Scots took a 3-0 lead with a field goal late in the first quarter but then didn't get on the board again.
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Just 17 seconds after the field goal, Hope quarterback Alex Thole threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Griffiths.
Thole then found Kaden DeHorn for a 22-yard touchdown strike and Avery Umphrey nailed a 28-yard field goal to make it 16-3 at halftime.
Another long drive opened the third quarter and Hope scored when Thole found Will DeYoung for a 3-yard touchdown.
Brody Schuiteman scored on a 1-yard run, AJ Martel scored on a 30-yard run and Umphrey nailed a 32-yard field goal to cap the scoring.
Thole finished 17-for-23 passing for 286 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
DeHorn had five catches for 115 yards, while Griffiths had three catches for 105.
Martel had 11 carries for 96 yards and Schuiteman had 11 rushes for 66 yards.
Nolan Vis led the defense with 12 tackles. Trenten Bolhouse (Zeeland West) had eight, Dom Casise had seven and Mike Murphy added six.
The Hope defense holding opponents to just 10.8 points per game this season.
Hope will host Kalamazoo College at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, in the battle for the Wooden Shoes.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope earns top-10 ranking for first time in history, lives up to it by crushing Alma