It's hard to believe, but the 2021 football season is drawing to a close, and Hillsdale College will take the field at home for the final time this weekend as it hosts Ohio Dominican on Saturday.
As it does at the final home game of every season, the Chargers will honor their class of graduating seniors on Saturday, 21 players who've been part of several excellent teams over the course of their careers.
Hillsdale has a chance at clinching a winning season with a victory over the Panthers this weekend, and still has hopes of extending its season another game. A victory would guarantee the Chargers a share of second place in the conference, and consideration for the Crossroads Bowl in December in Hammond, Indiana if the G-MAC champion is selected to go to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
This weekend is also Report Card Day for all Charger fall athletic teams. Area chlidren who have more than 3 As on their report cards and can show proof of it at the game will get free admission to Saturday's contest.
Schedule
Ohio Dominican (7-3, 4-2 G-MAC) at Hillsdale College (5-5, 4-2 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 13 | Frank "Muddy" Waters Stadium | Hillsdale, MI
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Ohio Dominican Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | 2021 Ohio Dominican Stats | G-MAC Schedule | G-MAC Standings | Game Notes
Last Game
The Chargers took advantage of six Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers in a 31-6 victory over the visiting Panthers on Saturday. Hillsdale's defense was excellent, harassing KWC quarterback Jay Roberts into four interceptions, led by Zach Herzog, who finished with 11 tackles, a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery. Offensively, quarterback Garrit Aissen threw two touchdown passes for the Chargers, including one to senior Alec Foos, who also ran in a score to add to his receiving touchdown.
Scouting the Opposition
The Panthers are a tough opponent who have never finished worse than second in the G-MAC since joining the league in 2017, and will look to extend that streak with a victory over Hillsdale on Saturday.
ODU enters Saturday's contest an impressive 7-3, with the three losses coming to a ranked Shepherd team and the two teams tied for first in the G-MAC, Findlay and Tiffin.
The Panthers boast a balanced offense led by four-year starting quarterback Evan Ernst, who's put up impressive numbers in 2021, throwing for 2,328 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions on a 61.7 completion percentage. Ernst has several quality targets, led by Spring 2021 first team All-G-MAC receiver David Turner, who has 56 catches for 603 yards and five touchdowns, and senior James Morgan, who has 37 catches for 546 yards and three touchdowns.
ODU has a tandem of strong runners at tailback in senior Frederick Pitts V and sophomore Travis Whittaker, who've combined for over 1,200 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on the year.
Defensively the Panthers are led by star linebacker Dauson Dales, who leads the entire G-MAC with 108 tackles on the season. ODU has another strong linebacker in sophomore Daishaun Hill and a ferocious pass rush up front, with four players with four or more sacks, led by senior defensive lineman Eddie Miller-Garrett.
The Panthers have one of the league's top specialists in Jed Quackenbush, who handles both kicking and punting for ODU. In the return game, Turner must be accounted for – he hasn't scored on a return this season, but he has in past years and is a threat with the ball in his hands.
If there's one thing that's prevented the Panthers from being in the mix with Findlay and Tiffin for the G-MAC title in this final week, it's consistency. Both the ODU offense and defense have looked like world-beaters at various points in the season, but both units have also come up short at different times this year. Getting top-notch execution on both sides of the ball is critical for the Panthers this weekend.
Ohio Dominican's head coach is Kelly Cummings, who's led the Panthers to a 41-17 record in six seasons at the helm, including a 2017 G-MAC title and an America's Crossroads Bowl appearance in 2019. An assistant at ODU for several years before taking the top job, Cummings also coached at Toledo, Findlay, Wittenberg and Denison before joining the Panthers in 2013.
The Series
ODU has a 6-4 lead in a tightly contested series that dates back to both teams' time in the GLIAC and started in 2010, but Hillsdale won the most recent meeting 35-28 during the spring 2021 season. The Chargers also won that first meeting in 2010, 35-10, but ODU had won five of the last six before Hillsdale took down the Panthers to end the spring campaign.
Other Notes
- Hillsdale honors a 21-player senior class at its final home game of the season on Saturday. Over the course of five seasons, this group put up a 30-19 record, played a role in the 2018 G-MAC Championship and the program's third-ever NCAA DII playoff appearance, and have a chance to graduate with five seasons of .500 or better play with a win over ODU. Three Charger seniors, Alex Anschutz, Konnor Maloney and Cole Johnson, earned Academic All-American honors during their careers here, and the group have also combined for 15 All-G-MAC honors, including three first-team honors, with this year's awards still to come.
- The Charger defense has been one of the best in terms of takeaways all season long. Hillsdale currently leads all of NCAA Division II in interceptions with 19 on the year, five more than any other G-MAC team. Along with six fumble recoveries, Hillsdale's defense has 27 total takeaways this year, tied for eighth in NCAA Division II. Redshirt freshman Jackson Gillock is tied for 20th in the nation with five interceptions, and senior Joe Schneider is also in the top 50 with four.
- Senior defensive tackle Nate Chambers is having a beastly season in his final go-around with Hillsdale this season. Chambers had 6.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in his first three seasons combined entering the year, but in nine games he's added 6.5 more sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss to those totals, both marks that are in the top five in the G-MAC and place him inside the top 50 nationally in Division II in both stats.
- A standout for the previous three seasons for the Chargers, Alex Anschutz is making his final season his best yet. Hillsdale's STAR, a linebacker/safety hybrid position, is tied for fourth in the G-MAC in tackles (94), and is tied for 16th in all of Division II in the stat. Anschutz is not the only Charger defender standing out – Zach Herzog, his teammate, is sixth in the G-MAC and tied for 20th nationally with 91 total tackles.
- The Charger specialists have had an excellent season so far, helping Hillsdale to a huge edge in the third phase of the game. Senior Jack Shannon is currently seventh in NCAA Division II in average yards per punt with 43.08 and a long of 69, while kicker Julian Lee has made 7 of 8 field goals with a long of 43, tied for the fifth-best percentage in the country. The Chargers also have a kick return touchdown, a total of eight blocked kicks and punts, and three fumble recoveries on special teams as well this season.
- Discipline and execution are always important for winning football games, and the Chargers have been one of the least penalized teams in the country this year. Their 38 penalties in 10 games is the lowest in the G-MAC and tied for fifth lowest in the nation in Division II. Two of the four teams ahead of the Chargers in the stat have also played fewer games than Hillsdale has this season.
- The Charger football program brought home an impressive and historic award haul this summer. For the first time in program history, Hillsdale had three players earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors – Johnson, senior safety Alex Anschutz and senior wide receiver Konnor Maloney, becoming just the sixth, seventh and eighth players in program history to receive the prestigious honor. All three return this fall. Additionally, 2021 graduate Joey Brenner was named the program's first G-MAC Scholar Athlete of the Year as well, and 79 of Hillsdale's 103 players posted a 3.0 or better GPA for the 2020-21 school year.
- The Charger football program has long been known for its strong family tradition, and that continues in 2021 with two sets of brothers in the starting lineup. Senior cornerback Matt Harding and sophomore tight end Michael Harding (Livonia, MI/Detroit Catholic Central) will start on opposite sides of the ball, following in the footsteps of older brother Steve Harding, who graduated from Hillsdale in 2014. On the offensive line, twin brothers Nick and Ben Affholter (Quincy, MI/Reading) will hold down the two guard spots. Both are the sons of Brad Affholter, a multi-year starter on the Charger offensive line in the mid-90s. There are two more sets of brothers on the team – Zach Herzog and his brother, Mike, a tailback, and Konnor Maloney and his brother Jacob, a defensive back. Additionally, H-back Calvin McNellie is joined by his brother, Carson, a student manager for the team in 2021.
- With 120 wins to date, Otterbein is third all-time in career coaching victories at Hillsdale, trailing two Charger Athletics Hall of Famers in Frank "Muddy" Waters (138) and Dick Lowry (134). If he maintains his current career pace of wins per season, Otterbein would pass Waters for the all-time record in the fall of 2024.
