2008 Woodie Awards
Chargers 3-1; loss threatens playoffs
Liz Klimas
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Sports
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"We felt a little angry because we didn't get the job done when we definitely could have," junior Aaron Waldie said. "We are going to use this as momentum to do better."
The Chargers are now 3-1 in the GLIAC after being No. 1 in the conference last week. Ferris has moved to 1-2.
The first half of the game was competitive for both teams and the scoring was often back-to-back. Dynamics of the game changed in the second half with neither team scoring in the third quarter.
"There were definitely opportunities for us to score and play better," said quarterback and co-captain, Mark Nicolet, a senior. "We never were able to put the game out of reach; they hung around and by the second [half] they believed they could win."
Hillsdale led the Bulldogs by one point at halftime, 35-34.
"We felt like we had survived some pretty major mistakes at this point," head coach Keith Otterbein said.
The Chargers were able to squeeze out two field goals by junior Mark Petro in the fourth quarter to tie the game 41-41. With 3 seconds left, Ferris nailed a 41-yard field goal to place them three points over the Chargers and avoided overtime.
"We just didn't finish drives offensively, especially in the second half," wide-receiver Nick Gurica, a senior, said.
Players and coaches also attributed the loss to mistakes at critical times. Hillsdale had three turnovers and Ferris' defense made adjustments that caught Hillsdale offense off guard preventing their execution of key plays.
"We pretty much gifted them with 14 points," Otterbein said. "Some thing we need to work on is executing a little better. It needs to be cleaned up and shaped."
Otterbein said one of the biggest factors to the team's loss was how they played third downs.
"We had opportunities, then they started blitzing us more and we weren't effective with handling that," he said. "The defense needs to work on getting stops at the third down. Our tackling needs to get better."
The team seems hopeful in still fulfilling their goal of making it to the playoffs.
"There is nothing we can do about that game now but I think we are still in a position to accomplish our goal - going to the playoffs," Waldie said.
Twenty-four division II teams in the country will go to the playoffs, and Nicolet said realistically the team can only lose two total games and still go.
"I think this will only make us work harder," Nicolet said. "You spend six days getting ready for one opportunity and to lose hurts. They weren't a better team - no one on our team would say they were - and at the same time we have to move on and prepare for
this Saturday."
The Chargers will take on Michigan Tech University Saturday at home hoping to keep their total losses at one.
"The season is not over yet," Gurica said. "We can still meet our goals and be successful."
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