For the first time since 2009, the Hillsdale College football team has started a season 2-0.
Sophomore quarterback Chance Stewart completed 18 of 29 passes for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns and sophomore tailback Joe Reverman added 128 total yards and 2 touchdowns as the Chargers shut down the Walsh Cavaliers 28-10 on Saturday night at Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium.
Hillsdale has now won six games in a row dating back to last season.
“We’re playing good football. We’re making plays in a timely fashion,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “The cohesiveness of our group is really strong. They’re together. They all like being with each other and they’re enjoying football which is a big thing.”
Hillsdale’s first two touchdowns were the result of takeaways. Junior defensive back Spencer Nehls intercepted Walsh quarterback Reid Worstell’s second pass of the game. One minute later, the Chargers jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 4-yard touchdown run by Reverman.
Walsh tied the game at the 12:49 mark of the second quarter on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Worstell to running back LeShawn Johnson. The Cavaliers got the ball back after forcing a 3-and-out, but three plays later redshirt freshman linebacker Wain Clarke picked off a pass from Worstell at the Cavaliers’ 20-yard line.
Reverman scored again two minutes later on a 5-yard pass from Stewart.
After the Cavaliers kicked a field goal, the Chargers ran a 9-play, 72-yard drive in just 1:36 to score a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining in the first half. A 9-yard touchdown pass from Stewart to senior wide receiver Ryan Potrykus capped off Hillsdale’s successful two-minute drill to give the Chargers a 21-10 halftime lead.
“I was really happy with the execution,” Otterbein said. “We got the ball in the end zone when we needed to.”
The game slowed down considerably in the second half. The Cavaliers and Chargers traded punts and missed field goals before the Chargers put the game away on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Stewart to sophomore wide receiver Austin Sandusky with 7:02 remaining in the game. Sandusky finished the game with 115 receiving yards and a touchdown on just five receptions.
After that point, both teams seemed content to run out the clock.
The Chargers finished with 352 total yards of offense to the Cavaliers’ 290 yards and won the turnover battle 2-0. Eight different Hillsdale players caught a pass from Stewart.
“You can’t shut one guy down,” Otterbein said. “You get them in different formations and you just move it around. Chance (Stewart) is doing a nice job of hitting the open receiver.”
After struggling to deal with deep passes defensively last week, the Chargers limited Walsh to just 186 passing yards on Saturday.
“We did a better job of not getting the ball over our head which is important,” Otterbein said.
The Chargers also limited the Cavaliers to just 104 total rushing yards.
“We did a good job again against the run,” Otterbein said. “They had a couple powerful backs and ran the ball really hard, but generally first and foremost you stop the run.”
Otterbein was also pleased with Hillsdale’s ability to get off the field on third down. After not allowing a single third down conversion against Indianapolis last week, the Chargers allowed Walsh to convert just 4 of their 13 third-down opportunities.
The Chargers will travel to Tiffin for their first road game of the season next Saturday at 3 p.m. The Dragons lost to No. 3 Grand Valley 45-7 in their first game this season, but beat Davenport University 20-17 on Saturday night. The Chargers will have their hands full dealing with Tiffin quarterback Antonio Pipkin.
“They’ve got a great quarterback. He is as athletic as anybody we’ll play,” Otterbein said. “I like the way we’re swarming the ball on defense. That makes a big difference. We’ve got to have a lot of hats to go tackle a guy that is as shifty as him, but stopping him is the big key for us no question about that.”