It was an points bonanza in Kalamazoo on Saturday night, with both teams combining for 90.
It wasn’t your typical FCS/FBS special at Waldo Stadium on Saturday night, as both the Western Michigan Broncos (1-2) and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (0-3) put on a show in front of a packed house in Kalamazoo.
There could only be one winner, however, and on this night, the home crowd did not leave disappointed as the Broncos carried a 59-31 victory back into the locker room at game’s end.
The game started with a bang, as Anthony Sambucci returned the opening kickoff 46 yards, then found himself underneath a deep pass from Hayden Wolff on a defensive breakdown to score a 56-yard touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage and put the Broncos up 7-0.
The Wildcats would attempt to respond back with an effective-enough 10-play, 47-yard where they had to settle for a 45-yard field goal— but the attempt was blocked by Corey Walker, leaving B-CU with nothing to show for it.
B-CU would avenge the big play on the next defensive possession, as Andrew Volmar stepped in front of Malique Dieudonne to intercept the pass from Wolff to kill the potential scoring drive and set up shop at their own 14-yard line.
It was for naught, though, as the Wildcats went thrre-and-out then punted back to Western. The Broncos would repay the Wildcats for their troubles with a four-play, 65-yard drive ending in a Wolff touchdown pass to Christopher Toudle from 23 yards out to double up their lead to 14-0 with 2:25 to go in the first quarter.
The running game would start to put the game out of reach in the second quarter, with Jaden Nixon and Zahir Abdus-Salaam each scoring on short rushes on back-t-back drives to inflate the lead to 28-0 with 8:48 to go in the first half.
The Wildcats would break an ignominious streak on the next drive, driving 75 yards downfield on six plays to score on a three-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Cam’Ron Ransom to cut into Western’s 28-7 lead with 6:36 to go in the second quarter. The short rush was B-CU’s first touchdown scored since the Florida Classic against Florida A&M in November 2023, snapping a 10-quarter run without a sixer.
The Broncos leapt back to life in the passing game after the B-CU missive, needing just 1:49 of game clock to span 65 yards and find Bugs Mortimer on a tunnel screen for a 38-yard receiving touchdown to go up 35-7 with under a minute to go in the first half.
What happened next is one of the most improbable sequence of events we’ve ever seen in a football game.
Western Michigan kicked off to B-CU as usual, with Darnell Deas finding himself under the ball at his own five-yard line next to the right sideline. He veered to the left, cut through a tackle attempt, then turned on the afterburners to score on the 95-yard return and cut the Broncos lead to 35-14 with 46 seconds to go.
After WMU couldn’t score to end the half, they kicked off to start the third quarter, with B-CU receiving. Deas once again took the ball, this time off a hop from the three-yard line near the right sideline. He veered to the left once again on the squeeze attempt before finding room cutting back to the right, shed two tackles, and raced down the right sideline for his second score in as many touches, putting the Wildcats within two scores just seconds into the third quarter.
WMU was unable to advance the ball further than their own 43 on the next possession, punting the ball away to give B-CU a chance to seize momentum.
Unfortunately for the visitors, a special teams miscue of their own would cost them two drives later, as a delay of game on a punt from their four-yard line forced a punt from deeper in their own endzone and the ball was downed at their own 37-yard line.
Jaden Nixon would close the distance on the first play from scrimmage, pushing the margin back to three scores at 42-21. Zahir Abdus-Salaam would tack on another touchdown run from one yard out to push the lead out to 49-21 before the end of the third quarter.
B-CU’s Cade Hechter and WMU’s Luka Zurak would exchange field goals to start the fourth quarter, Cam’Ron Ransom scored his second rushing touchdown of the night with 5:31 to go in the game and the Broncos would gash the Wildcats defense one last time for a 48-yard scoring run by Jamal Hailey to put the game at its final tally of WMU 59, B-CU 31.
WMU’s offense scored a whopping eight touchdowns, just three drives on the day coming up empty (two punts, one interception), a welcome relief after tough contests against Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Hayden Wolff played from pole-to-post, finishing 15-of-19 for 305 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Anthony Sambucci led the Broncos with 103 receiving yards and a score on four catches, with tight ends Christopher Toudle (three catches, 54 yards, one touchdown) and Blake Bosma (two catches, 56 yards) helped pace the contest.
WMU’s greatest success was in running the ball, as both Jaden Nixon (17 carries, 189 yards, two scores) and Zahir Abdus-Salaam (18 carries, 104 yards, two scores) eclipsed the century mark in yards. Overall, the unit ran for 372 yards on 42 attempts, scoring five times.
Purdue transfer Domanick Moon led the defensive effort with seven tackles, while three different Broncos each pulled in 1.5 tackles-for-loss on the day. Corey Walker and Isaiah Green each hauled in a solo sack on the day while Nyquan Washington recorded the lone pass break-up.
Cam’Ron Ransom led the Wildcats offensive efforts, finishing 10-of-14 for 114 yards passing while also contributing 44 yards and two rushing touchdowns on 20 attempts. Courtney Reese finished with 10 carries for 34 yards as starting running back. Tight end Marcus Velex (four catches, 20 yards), and receivers Omari Stewart (two catches, 31 yards) and Lorenzo Jenkins (44-yard reception) were the major pass game contributors.
Shelton Quartles Jr. led all tacklers with 11 total tackles and a half-TFL fromn the safety spot, while Jeremy Greaves Jr. had the team’s lone sack and a tackle-for-loss. Darrion Davis had the team’s one pass break-up.
Bethune-Cookman will now turn their focus to fellow HBCU Clark Atlanta University for Friends and Family Day in Daytona, with scheduled kickoff for 3 p.m. Eastern time next Saturday.
WMU, meanwhile, will focus on rest and recovery next weekend before taking on their last non-conference opponent.