Team 124 went out on top.
Sophomore tailback Joe Reverman rushed for 3 touchdowns and sophomore wide receiver Trey Brock added 2 touchdowns and 137 yards receiving as the Hillsdale College football team cruised past the winless Lake Erie Storm on Senior Day 42-10. The Chargers finish the season 5-5, their best record since 2012.
“It gives you momentum. I’m really happy for the seniors,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “Our team played well and executed well.”
The Chargers gained 436 yards total—234 yards through the air, and 202 yards on the ground. Reverman rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries, and senior tailback Jack Wiseman carried the ball 7 times for 49 yards.
“Our run game clicked,” Otterbein said. “We’re always better when we can mix the run and the pass.”
Sophomore quarterback Chance Stewart completed 14 of his 19 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“Offensively we were really balanced,” said Reverman, who finished the season with 12 touchdowns and 895 yards rushing. “Trey had another big game, and Chance played really well.”
Redshirt freshman Steven Ficyk and senior David Ritchie each saw time at quarterback in the second half with the Chargers leading comfortably. Brock stayed in the game with Ficyk and Ritchie as he needed 184 yards receiving to break Andre Holmes’ Hillsdale-record for most receiving yards in a season, but he couldn’t quite get there.
“We got a little frustrated in the second half. We were trying to get a record for Trey and couldn’t quite connect,” Otterbein said. “That happens and you live with it and move on.”
Defensively, the Chargers gave up 352 total yards and allowed Lake Erie to convert just 6 of their 16 third-down conversion attempts.
“We tackled really well. That’s been a tough thing for us against some teams, so I thought that put pressure on the quarterback,” Otterbein said. “We kept the ball in front of us.”
Lake Erie led briefly at the beginning of the game before the Chargers took over. On the opening drive of the game, Lake Erie kicker Austin Baker converted a 33-yard field goal to give the Storm an early 3-0 lead.
After sophomore wide receiver Austin Sandusky took the ensuing kickoff out to the 48-yard line, the Chargers drove 52 yards in 6 plays. Reverman picked up his first touchdown of the afternoon on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line to give Hillsdale a 7-3 lead.
The Chargers tacked on another touchdown on their next possession. A 20-yard pass from Stewart to sophomore wide receiver Trey Brock capped off Hillsdale’s 6-play, 40-yard drive.
Hillsdale doubled its first-half scoring output in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter. With 28 seconds remaining, Reverman scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard rush.
After Hillsdale’s defense forced a stop, the Chargers got the ball back with 10 seconds remaining. On the last play of the half, Stewart threw the ball into the end zone and Brock rose above a group of defenders to haul in the 36-yard touchdown, giving the Chargers a 28-3 halftime lead.
Brock’s second touchdown reception gave him 111 yards receiving at the time, clinching his Hillsdale-record ninth game of the season with 100 or more yards receiving.
“He had a good year,” Otterbein said. “If we can get a little bit of strength to him, he can be even more of a dominant force.”
Reverman extended Hillsdale’s lead on the first drive of the second half. The Chargers’ 10-play, 65-yard drive culminated in Reverman’s third 2-yard touchdown.
With a 35-3 lead, Otterbein brought in Ficyk and then Ritchie at quarterback. Neither Ficyk nor Ritchie could put together a scoring drive in the third quarter, and the Chargers took a 35-3 lead into the final quarter.
Lake Erie scored its first touchdown of the game with 12:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, as quarterback John Banyasz cut Hillsdale’s lead to 35-10 with a 3-yard touchdown rush.
With 2:02 remaining in the fourth quarter, Ritchie picked up his second touchdown pass of the season on a 33-yard completion to junior wide receiver Taylor Cone, giving the Chargers a 42-10 lead.
Because the Chargers had a comfortable lead for most of the second half, Otterbein gave Ritchie and other seniors extra playing time in their final collegiate games.
“I’m just really happy that they were able to finish with a win, get on the field a little bit, and have some fond memories of their last time,” Otterbein said. “It’s a group that really worked hard, stuck with it, and got better. It’s a group that maybe wasn’t the All-Conference crew, but what great program guys.”
The Chargers will graduate just 12 seniors this offseason. Many of the important players in Hillsdale’s 5-5 2016 season will be back next year.
“We definitely are super excited,” Reverman said. “We’ll just carry this momentum into the offseason. We’ve got a lot of pieces coming back, so hopefully we all expect to improve and be better next year.”
Next season, the Chargers will compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).
“We had great leadership over the winter and the spring and the summer and through the season by a bunch of guys. I’m looking forward to having them and a few others step up as we graduate some key leaders,” Otterbein said. “We’re very excited, very optimistic, and looking forward to the move over to the GMAC.”