On the road on Saturday night, the Hillsdale College football team once again found itself being put to the test.
This time, the Chargers dug deep and found a way to get the job done in a gritty, hard-fought slugfest with host Missouri S&T, taking a 17-10 victory over the host Miners to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Just seven days after the Chargers couldn't hold a halftime lead in a 21-13 loss to Truman State, Hillsdale found itself in a similar position on Saturday, as Missouri S&T drove 54 yards on its first possession of the third quarter to tie the game at 10-all and erase a seven point halftime lead for the Chargers.
Facing adversity for the second straight week, Hillsdale pulled itself together and found a response. After giving the ball back to the Miners in the third quarter with a chance for the Miners to take the lead, the Charger defense came up with a huge stop on third and one at their own 31, as sophomore defensive end Riley Tolsma read the play perfectly and sacked S&T quarterback Stanton King for a nine yard loss to kill the drive.
On the ensuing possesion, Hillsdale put together its best drive of the game, marching 82 yards on 14 plays. Senior tailback Michael Herzog picked up a 4th and one deep in Hillsdale own end on a gutsy call by the Charger coaching staff to keep the drive going, and senior quarterback Luke Keller connected with sophomore tight end Ty Williams on a 21 yard pass play and true freshman receiver Connor Pratt on an 11 yard sideline catch to keep the chains moving.
To cap off the drive, Keller connected with sophomore wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa on a 25 yard crossing route for the go-ahead, and what would eventually prove to be the game-winning, touchdown with 13:06 to play.
The reception was part of another huge night for TeSlaa, who continues to prove himself one of the top receivers in the country, week in and week out. With two seconds left in the first half, TeSlaa caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Keller to give the Chargers a 10-3 edge heading into the locker room, and the sophomore finished the night with eight catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. That gives TeSlaa 572 yards and eight touchdowns through four games, and keeps him on pace to challenge several Hillsdale College single-season receiving records.
Keller had a solid night as well, overcoming two first half interceptions to finish with a solid stat-line -- 237 yards on 15 of 22 passing with the two touchdowns to TeSlaa.
With the Chargers back in the lead, Hillsdale's defense finished the game by chaining together three huge stops to seal the victory. The Chargers forced a three and out on S&T's first possession of the fourth quarter, the cut the Miners' second drive short thanks to an first down sack by senior Kyle Kudla, who came unblocked up the middle to give the quarterback no chance of escape.
After Hillsdale's offense burned 4:09 off the clock and used up all of the Miners' timeouts, S&T got the ball back with one final chance to tie, but the Chargers sealed the victory with pass breakups by Nicholas Goerss and Julius Graber to force a turnover on downs and end the contest.
Kudla, Hillsdale's leading tackler on the season, had a huge contest, finishing with nine tackles, 2.5 for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Vince Francescone added six tackles and an interception as well to help lead the Charger defense.
Offensively, Michael Herzog was the Chargers' leading rusher, finishing with 68 yards on 19 carries and helping to sustain drives late against a tough Miners front seven.
Sophomore Julian Lee also had a solid performance as Hillsdale's kicker, hitting a 29-yard field goal with 4:37 to go in the first quarter to give the Chargers an early lead, and also converting both of his extra points.
Hillsdale improves to 3-1 overall and returns to G-MAC play next week, as the Chargers face another long road trip to take on Kentucky Wesleyan (1-3, 0-2 G-MAC) at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1 looking to remain atop the conference standings.
Photo by Anthony Lupi