In a defensive battle, the Hillsdale College Chargers came up short on the road against top-10 team Ohio Dominican, falling by a score of 9-3.
“They’ve got a really good defense,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “They’ve got really good pass rushers.”
It was the first game that the Chargers have played since Nov. 2, 1991 in which both teams failed to find the end zone.
The Panthers’ defense held the Chargers to just a fourth quarter field goal from redshirt sophomore kicker Steven Mette. Hillsdale’s defense wasn’t too shabby either.
“We knew we had to be physical with them because they have the best defense in the GLIAC,” said senior captain defensive back Tim Moinet, who had one of Hillsdale’s two interceptions on the day. “Our defense stepped up and played really well.”
Hillsdale’s defense bent but didn’t break. The Panthers moved the ball, gaining 376 yards on the day and converting 20 first downs. But the Chargers kept them out of the end zone.
“We played really hard,” coach Otterbein said about his defense. “[We] did a great job with the defense to keep them out of the end zone.”
The Chargers also did a good job of pressuring Ohio Dominican’s quarterback.
“We just kept bringing a lot of pressure and blitzes,” Moinet said. “We were constantly in their backfield.”
The Panthers were only able to muster three field goals throughout the game. But with their stingy defense, it was enough to get the job done.
“Their defense was just very good,” quarterback Mark LaPrairie said. “Their defensive line was very big, athletic, fast, so that made it a little bit more difficult to throw.”
Ohio Dominican’s defense held LaPrairie to just 103 yards passing on 8 completions.
The Chargers also left themselves with too many third and long situations, Otterbein said. Hillsdale converted just two of their 14 third downs on the day.
“We didn’t enhance our opportunities by the mistakes we made,” he said. “[There were] too many times where we were playing right into their strengths.”
With the loss, the Chargers are now 2-4 overall and 2-3 in GLIAC play. Hillsdale will look to pick up their third win of the season on Saturday when they host Ashland at 2:30 p.m.
Ashland and Hillsdale haven’t played since the 2011 season when Hillsdale won a shootout 40-34. The two schools have been rivals in years past and there is even a trophy that goes to the winner of each game, but since many of the current players haven’t played Ashland much if at all, the rivalry isn’t on their minds.
“I haven’t played them since freshman year so that whole rivalry thing isn’t there for us as a team,” Moinet said. “There’s not much history because we played them once.”
Like any team in the GLIAC, Ashland will pose familiar challenges.
“[They’re] fast, physical, athletic just like the rest of the teams in this league,” coach Otterbein said. “The thing we’ve got to continue to focus on is ourselves. [We’ll] prepare the best we can, play the best we can and worry about ourselves rather than what ifs.”