Box Score

November 5, 2011 – It has been literally a year since the Hillsdale College football team could earn a victory without having to sweat out the final seconds.

Deploying an explosive and well-balanced offensive attack, the Chargers put together their most lopsided victory of the season, 49-13, over the University of Findlay, Saturday afternoon at Findlay's Donnell Stadium.

The win keeps Hillsdale in a first-place tie in the GLIAC South Division with a 7-2 conference mark. The Chargers are 7-3 overall, and will wrap up the regular season with a road game next week at winless Tiffin University.

All nine of Hillsdale's previous games this season had been decided by nine points or less, and most of them didn't have a clear winner until the final seconds. No such drama was necessary in this one, as Hillsdale grabbed control of the game from the outset, and never gave the Oilers a chance. 

After Findlay opened the game with a touchdown on its opening drive, the Chargers scored 28 unanswered points. Three of those touchdowns, plus a satisfying exclamation point early in the third quarter, was provided by junior RB Joe Glendening and Hillsdale's offensive line.

Glendening announced his return to action in a big way, racking up 241 yards on 31 carries, and four touchdowns in the game. He missed last week's win over Northwood due to an injury, but showed no lingering effects, ripping through the Oiler defense to the tune of the second-most yards in a single game in his career. Along the way, Glendening shattered another school record.

With his four rushing scores, Glendening now has 26 total touchdowns this season, breaking the two-year old school record set by Vinnie Panizzi. He has 23 touchdowns on the ground, leaving him one shy of the single-season school record set by Nate Clark way back in 1955.

Glendening scored on touchdown runs of 5, 1, 4, and 54 yards. Glendening and the offensive line set the tone for the day on Hillsdale's first drive, when he gained 54 yards rushing on five carries, capping the drive with a five-yard run to tie the game up at 7-7.

The Hillsdale defense did an excellent job of containing the Findlay offense through the rest of the first half, limiting the Oilers to seven first downs in the game's first 30 minutes. While the Charger defense was forcing the Oilers to three-and-outs, the Charger offense was finding its smoothest groove of this season.

Hillsdale's last three scoring drives of the first half used up a total of 37 plays for 232 yards and more than 16 minutes of time on the game clock.

Findlay came back with a touchdown to open the second half, slicing the lead to 28-13. But one play later, Glendening put the finishing touches on his masterpiece with a breathtaking 54-yard touchdown run that made it a 35-13 game. More importantly, the scoring run seemed to take all of the juice out of the Findlay players and fans, as Hillsdale was able to cruise to the victory from there.

Junior QB Anthony Mifsud enjoyed one of his best games of the season, completing 24 of 30 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with WR Andrew Mott (46 yards) and H-back Cam White (8 yards) on the team's last two scoring drives of the game. 

Mott and White were Mifsud's preferred targets on the afternoon. Mott set a career-high with eight receptions in the game, which went for 92 yards. White hauled in five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns, including a perfectly executed fade-pass for a score from Mifsud.

The defense played a disruptive game, never allowing Findlay to get into a rhythm, or generate any big plays while the ballgame was in doubt. Senior Joe Vear led the way with seven tackles, one tackle-for-loss, and an interception, which he returned 17 yards. Senior Nick Hixson had a team-high seven solo tackles, and nine total, while sophomore linebacker Devin Moynihan matched Hixson with nine total tackles. Senior David Bakker came up with 2.5 tackles-for-loss, and 1.5 sacks for Hillsdale.

The Chargers generated 587 yards of total offense, while yielding just 310. Hillsdale enjoyed an 11-minute advantage in time of possession, and averaged 7.4 yards per play.