In today's high-scoring world of college football, which feature spread offenses and rules engineered to favor points, Saturday's GLIAC game between Hillsdale College and Ohio Dominican University was a throwback to a time when defenses ruled the day.
It ended up being the Chargers' first game where neither team scored a touchdown since November 2, 1991. The Panthers pulled out a 9-3 win over Hillsdale in Columbus, Ohio, dropping the Charger record to 2-4 overall and 2-3 on the season. ODU has won 21 straight regular season games, and is now 6-0.
Hillsdale returns home next week to host Ashland University in a battle for the Traveling Trophy. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
Coming into the game, Ohio Dominican - ranked 8th in the latest AFCA Division II coach's poll - had the GLIAC's top-ranked defense, and played up to that billing. The Panthers held the Chargers to just 130 yards of total offense in the game. Hillsdale was 2-for-14 on third-down conversion attempts, and held the ball for 13 fewer minutes than the Panthers.
Despite all that, the Chargers again had the ball in the last two minutes of the game with an opportunity to tie or take the lead. That's been the case in three of the team's four losses this season.
ODU's defense was stubborn all day, and on the Chargers' last drive, had a sack, forced two incompletions, then intercepted a pass to end the visiting team's final threat.
However, Hillsdale brouight some serious heat of its own defensively. The Chargers stopped the Panthers twice on fourth down, and limited ODU to just 7-for-18 on third-down conversions. Joe Duff and Tim Moinet each recorded interceptions, while freshman Jay Rose recovered a fumble in the first half. Five different players broke up passes, and three players - Scotty penola, Roger Stewart and Justin D'Agostino - recorded 10 total tackles.
Stewart in particular, was impressive from his defensive tackle position. He had four solo stops and was very effective at stopping the Panthers' running attack. In the second half, Hillsdale limited Ohio Dominican to just 84 total yards. A gutsy effort, by any measure.
Penola's tackles total represented a career high. Senior Daniel Pittman added 9 total tackles, while Duff, the other starting cornerback, had 8.
The wide receiver position was manned by several new players in this game, and was led by redshirt-freshman Timmy Mills' 4 catches for a career-high 67 yards. True freshman Brian Newman had his first career reception as well.
Sophomore quarterback Mark LaPrairie had 103 yards passing, while sophomore Jack Wiseman led the team's rushers with 30 yards on the ground.