The Hillsdale College football team fell into a 21-0 first quarter deficit and couldn't dig its way out in a 48-19 home loss to rival Northwood on Saturday.

The defeat is Northwood's first win over Hillsdale in 11 contests, and also makes the Timberwolves the winner of the inaugural Riepma Cup, a new traveling trophy handed out to the winner of the Northwood-Hillsdale game and named in honor of Hillsdale graduate and football legend Pat Riepma, who is also the all-time winningest football coach and the former athletic director at Northwood.

The Timberwolves scored of three of their first four drives and forced an interception that led to a touchdown after their only punt in the first quarter to build an massive early lead.

Hillsdale fought back and got on the board with a nine play, 69 yard drive that ended in a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Colin McKernan with 10:57 to play in the second quarter, then cut Northwood's lead to 21-13 on its next drive as McKernan connected with Tutt Carrico on a 50 yard bomb to get the Chargers in the red zone, and then found Shea Ruddy for an 18-yard touchdown pass.

The Chargers had cut the deficit, but Northwood responded by going 80 yards in eight plays for a touchdown that pushed its lead back to two scores, then the Timberwolves tacked on a field goal right before halftime to take a 31-13 lead into the break.

Northwood continued to control the game in the second half, outscoring the Chargers 17-6 after the break to pull away. McKernan did connect with Carrico on a 42-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, but the Chargers were unable to convert the two-point conversion and never got the Timberwolves' lead back to single digits.

Hillsdale ended up with 354 yards to Northwood's 432, but the Timberwolves controlled the field position battle for most of the game, routinely taking advantage of short fields and scoring touchdowns on each of the Chargers' two turnovers. Hillsdale had three sacks in the contest but never forced Northwood into turnovers and struggled to get off the field on third and fourth down, as the Timberwolves finished with nine conversions in the game. Penalties also hurt the Chargers, who were flagged 10 times for 90 yards, and several coming in key spots.

McKernan was 16 of 33 passing for 253 yards and two touchdowns, but also two interceptions, and led the Chargers on the ground with 51 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries as well. Carrico had a big game for the Chargers with 143 yards and a touchdown on six catches, and Ruddy added 63 yards and a touchdown on three catches as well.

Colin Morrow led the Chargers defensively with nine tackles and a sack, Jacob Vance added five tackles and 1.5 sacks, and Jonah Jensen chipped in seven tackles as well. Parker Hart also assisted on a sack for Hillsdale, and Jack Trachet chipped in six tackles and three pass breakups.

Hillsdale is now 2-5 overall, 1-4 in the G-MAC and has now lost three straight. The Chargers will be in action at home against next week against Lake Erie looking to rebound and try and get back on track to make a run at a winning record in the closing weeks of the season. Kickoff against the Storm is at 2:30 p.m.