The Hillsdale College football team hung tough with rival Findlay for the better part of three quarters in the Chargers' home opener of an unprecedented spring season on Saturday.
But a happy finish wasn't in the cards for Hillsdale, as the Oilers scored the final 21 points of the game to break a 24-24 tie late in the third quarter and pull away for a 45-24 victory over the host Chargers.
Trailing 24-14 with 9:32 to play in the third quarter, Hillsdale embarked on a nine play, 59 yard drive that led to a 33-yard field goal by freshman Julian Lee to cut into the deficit, then forced a turnover on the next possession when junior linebacker Jonathan Burton picked off a Findlay pass that was batted into the air by junior cornerback Matt Harding.
Six plays later, sophomore quarterback Luke Keller cashed in that short field on a two-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown that tied the game at 24-all with 1:43 remaining in the quarter.
But just as it looked like Hillsdale was seizing the momentum, the Oilers took it back for good, as quarterback Matt Winzeler connected on a 67-yard touchdown pass to Marlin Richardson just over a minute later to put Findlay back on top with 10 seconds left in the third.
The Chargers still had chances in the fourth quarter, but on the next drive, Findlay sniffed out a fake punt by the Chargers and got the stop on fourth down to set up a short field, then scored on each of their next two drives to pull away.
Keller finished with a solid day passing to lead the Charger offense, going 18 for 27 for 206 yards and a 20-yard second quarter touchdown pass to Joe Bentley that gave Hillsdale its only lead of the game at 14-10 with 10:22 remaining in the second quarter.
Senior Konnor Maloney was Keller's favorite target, catching six passes for 63 yards, Alexander Giampietro added two catches for 54 yards and Alec Foos finished with three catches for 35 yards.
On the ground, redshirt freshman tailback Caden Goggins led with a solid performance in his first game, running for 59 yards on 12 carries, including a rumbling 12-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that got the Chargers on the board and tied the game at 7-all.
Josef Hissom added 31 yards on five carries for the Chargers, who showed promise in the run game early but had to move away from it late as the team tried to make up ground on the Oilers.
Senior captain Alex Anschutz led the Chargers defensively with 15 tackles, junior safety Zach Herzog added nine tackles, and sophomorelinebacker Kyle Kudla chipped in eight.
Nate Chambers added a sack for a Hillsdale defense that got stops early on but wore down late as the Oilers began to dominate time of possession in the second half. The Chargers were outgained in total yardage 477 to 318, with much of that difference coming on the ground in the fourth quarter as the Oilers chewed up clock and kept Hillsdale's D from getting off the field.
The loss is Hillsdale's sixth in its last seven meetings to the Oilers, though the Chargers still lead the overall series 17-13-1. Hillsdale (0-1) will look to regroup next week as it travels to play Kentucky Wesleyan next Saturday in Owensboro, Kentucky.
The Panthers are the only G-MAC team that didn't open up the season this week, drawing the bye in the weekly round-robin schedule, and that could give the Chargers a significant edge in experience facing off against an opponent that hasn't played a game in 15 months.
Photo by Anthony Lupi
