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Eagles Win Close
Call at Hillsdale, 7-3, in GLIAC Football |
Hillsdale College is known for its conservative philosophy. So, when the HC football team drove to the Ashland University 5-yardline in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s (Oct. 15) Ashland-Hillsdale game at HC’s Muddy Water Stadium, you could see jaws drop around the park when not only didn’t the Chargers run right, they didn’t really try to run at all. That conservative outlook starts at the top, and it generally runs all the way down to the gridiron. Four times within the shadow of the goal posts, the Chargers tried to penetrate the end zone. They came up empty each time and Ashland held on for a 7-3 triumph. The win is AU’s second straight and secures the school’s first winning season since 2001. Ashland is 6-2 overall, 5-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. That stand by the defense came with just over nine minutes left in regulation. On first down, HC’s Brett Neller rushed for a yard to the AU4. Then HC quarterback Mark Nicolet threw two incomplete passes. On fourth down, he rifled a pass into the middle of the end zone. The ball bounced high into the air and into the hands of AU safety Devin Conwell, who brought the ball back to the HC 8. Hillsdale (2-6/2-6), which lost for the fourth consecutive week, got no closer than the AU40 the rest of the game. “That second-down pass, I’m second-guessing myself a little bit,” said Hillsdale coach Keith Otterbein. “We’re a grind-it-out football team. You’re trying to catch people off guard. You have to change your MO, your play-calling pattern. Their guys are very good on defense. I thought we had a nice mix.” Give credit to the AU coaching staff and defensive coordinator Jim Meyer for some liberal thinking. “We stayed with our regular personnel, we didn’t go goal line,” reported AU head coach Lee Owens. “It was the right thing to do. Jim Meyer had a pretty good feel that they wouldn’t run it against us. We ran a blitz they hadn’t seen, a coverage they hadn’t seen.” What AU fans saw was the Eagles win on a day when Hillsdale bottled up anything they tried to do on offense. A persistent wind made throwing the ball troublesome and the Chargers did a masterful job of taking away running lanes. AU rushed for 166 yards and quarterback Nick Strance completed 15 of 27 passes for 109 yards, but most of that real estate came in the middle of the field. It was tough sledding in the red zone for an AU team that led in total yardage, 266-263. The Eagles did the same thing to the Chargers. Hillsdale had some success early running the ball, but as the game went on, those holes vanished. The Chargers rushed for 103 yards and threw for 161. AU picked off two passes. As steady as the AU defense was all afternoon, it was that fourth-quarter stand from the 5 that caught everyone’s attention. It was as fine a series as the Eagles have had all season. “Everyone on defense, we had a huddle on the field, everyone had to step it up and play,” said junior nose tackle Kyle Zelazny. “They had four plays and everyone made a play every time.” “We knew we had our backs against the wall,” said Conwell. “If they don’t score, we win. Everybody got pumped up. “I saw the ball in the air and I just ran to it,” said Conwell of his fourth-down interception. “The guy I was covering went to get it and I went with him.” The game’s lone score came with 10:11 to play in the second quarter when sophomore tailback Jon Schroeder went 40 yards for a touchdown on a draw. Freshman Jared Karrasch tacked on the extra point. Hillsdale answered with a 28-yard Nicholas Lewis field goal with 5:45 left in the first half. “It was wide open,” said Schroeder of his fifth rushing touchdown of the season. “The defense flew over and the line made the hole. Vince (Cashdollar, AU center) had a great block and one of our receivers threw a great block. I was running down the field with a smile on my face. Once I got through the line, it was really open.” “We played well on defense with the exception of two sprint draws,” lamented Otterbein. “They converted a key third down on one and the other was a touchdown. It’s tough with all the sprint outs they do. If one guy gets out of whack, it looks like no one is there.” The Eagles are still “there,” hanging around in the upper echelon of the GLIAC and still listed in the NCAA Division II regional rankings. No one came away from Hillsdale disappointed that the victory was by the slim margin of four points. “You don’t have to apologize to anyone for winning by a point at Hillsdale,” said Owens. “We’re on a mission,” emphasized wide receiver Dalorean White. “Every game is a playoff game for us.” Politically correct in speech and absolutely correct thinking for a football team with three key regular season games to play. |