The Tiffin University football team entered Saturday's football game at Frank "Muddy" Waters Stadium a formidable opponent on paper, with the top statistical offense and defense in the G-MAC.

By the time the final whistle blew, however, host Hillsdale College proved itself the better team all-around in a stunning 20-17 upset that gives the Chargers a shot at a winning season and all but ends Tiffin's hopes of making the NCAA DII postseason.

The Chargers outgained the Dragons, holding a Tiffin offense that averaged 435 yards a game to just 248 in the loss, and bulldozed a defense that was giving up just 86 yards a game on the ground with 178 total rushing yards, decisively winning the time of possession battle.

Despite their advantages, it took clutch plays on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter and overcoming a little adversity for Hillsdale to pull out the victory. Trailing 17-13 with 3:44 to play in the fourth quarter, Hillsdale looked like it had squandered its best shot at pulling the upset, as Tiffin forced and recovered a fumble on a potential fourth down conversion by the Chargers that would have given Hillsdale four shots to score the go-ahead touchdown from the Tiffin one-yard line had the Dragons not created the turnover.

The Chargers defense, however, stood tall, forcing a three and out from the Dragons offense that forced Tiffin to punt from inside their own 10 yard line with 2:46 to play. That plus a Shea Ruddy return gave Hillsdale great field position for another crack at taking the lead, as the Chargers got the ball at the Tiffin 29.

Hillsdale drove to the Tiffin 16 but stalled, facing a fourth and eight with 48 seconds to play and the game on the line. With one final chance, redshirt freshman quarterback Colin McKernan rifled a pass in the seam in the middle of the field to a wide open Connor Pratt for the game-winning touchdown.

Now trailing 20-17, Tiffin tried to put together a last gasp drive to set up a potential tying field goal and force overtime. With four seconds to play, cornerback Matt Soderdahl broke up a Tiffin pass that would have gotten the Dragons in field goal range if completed, and Vince Francescone broke up the Dragons' Hail Mary heave for the end zone on the ensuing possession to secure the victory.

A balanced day offensively helped Hillsdale claim the victory. In his final home game, senior Logan VanEnkevort had his third straight 100-plus yard rushing day, finishing with 102 yards on the ground on 25 carries, and the versatile Ruddy added 58 yards on eight carries as well. 

In the passing game, McKernan was efficient, completing 10 of 16 passes for 122 yards but three touchdowns, adding a two-yard TD pass to H-Back Ty Williams in the first quarter and a three-yard touchdown pass to Ruddy right before halftime to his game-winning throw to Pratt. Ruddy caught three passes for 40 yards and the score, and tight end Andrew Konieczny finished with two catches for 35 yards as well.

While Hillsdale did what it needed to do offensively, its defense turned in arguably its best performance of the season. The Chargers were dominant up front, holding a Tiffin team that averaged a G-MAC best 166 yards per game through the first nine weeks to just 38 rushing yards on 24 carries, for an average of 1.6 yards on the ground.

Defensive end Drake Badger was a force for the Chargers, leading the team with nine tackles and three total tackles for loss, as well as one solo sack and two sack assists as Hillsdale made Tiffin quarterback Alex Johnson's life miserable throughout the contest. Zac Tokie and Evan Bienick assisted Badger on his sacks, while Francescone added eight tackles and broke up two passes, and Neal Likens chipped in eight tackles, including 1.5 for loss.

Hunter Sperling added seven tackles and Gavin Chenevey forced a fumble as well for Hillsdale.

With the win, the Chargers improve to 5-5 overall, 5-3 in the G-MAC and send off its senior class victorious in the team's final home game for the second-straight season. Hillsdale closes out the 2024 campaign by traveling to Ohio Dominican next Saturday, with a chance to wrap up a second-straight winning season with a victory and potentially finish as high as third in the final conference standings.

Photo by Kenneth Gaudet