Chargers overcome wet conditions, slow start to top Kentucky Wesleyan

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Chargers overcome wet conditions, slow start to top Kentucky Wesleyan
Luke Keller looks to pass in a game earlier this season. Keller completed 12 of 28 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s win against Walsh. courtesy | camryn olson

The Hillsdale College Chargers battled through cold and rainy conditions on Saturday at Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium to top the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers, 41-14. The win improves the Chargers to 3-1 in the G-MAC and 5-3 overall with three games remaining in the regular season.

After its first two drives of the game ended in turnovers, one returned for a touchdown by the Panthers, Hillsdale’s offense pounded the ball on the ground in the second quarter, led by senior running back David Graham.

On the second play of the second quarter, Graham rushed for a seven-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-1 attempt to get the Chargers on the board. He rushed for two more touchdowns in the quarter, from one yard and 16 yards out, to give Hillsdale a 21-7 edge by halftime.

“One of the good things about this football team has been its resilience, that if we have prepared properly, once bad stuff happens, we’ve been able to respond in a positive fashion,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “If you’re not locked into the game plan and don’t feel confident about the calls, it can spiral out of control. This team has shown a commitment to the game plan in the games we’ve played well. In the games we didn’t respond well, the opposite happened and it snowballed.”

Graham added an eight-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter for his fourth touchdown of the game, a single-game season-high. Graham carried the ball 21 times for 97 yards in total. He has found the end zone in six consecutive games, and has scored 12 total touchdowns during that span, 11 on the ground.

“For teams to be successful, their seniors and their senior leaders play their best football. We’ve had that out of this group,” Otterbein said. “Dave is solid, and over time he’s had the game slow down for him. He kind of knows instantly whether he’s at the right tempo or made the right cut or did the right things. Dave’s toughness and tenacity and consistency has been very important this year.”

The Chargers rushed for 207 yards on the ground total, compared to just 122 through the air. Otterbein said that although “Muddy” Waters Stadium’s turf field means improved footing in slippery conditions compared to a grass surface, a slippery football still creates issues handling the football and moving it through the air in large chunks of yardage. By the second quarter, however, Hillsdale had found its groove.

“We were fortunate this was a football team we were able to run against,” Otterbein said of the Chargers’ run-heavy attack in the wet weather. “If we weren’t able to establish the run quite like we did, then it becomes more challenging having to throw the ball more.”

Hillsdale enjoyed a lopsided advantage in field position for most of the game. The Panthers’ average start to a drive after receiving a kickoff was their own 16-yard line, whereas the Chargers’ average starting field position after receiving a punt was their own 46-yard line.

Redshirt freshman running back Jake Umholtz carried the ball three times for 46 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown, the first of his career. On that scoring drive, Umholtz provided all the yardage necessary for the Chargers, and broke off a career-long 41 yard carry to set Hillsdale up for the score.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Keller completed nine of 25 classes for 111 yards and two interceptions. Through his first eight games this season, Keller has thrown 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions. He’s also fumbled the ball eight times this season, and lost five of them.

Junior wide receiver K.J. Maloney led the receiving corps with five receptions for 52 yards. Junior tight end Martin Petersen caught two passes for 48 yards, and Keller connected with three other targets once apiece.

Defensively, the Chargers held the Panthers to just 258 total yards of offense. They also forced two fumbles, recovered one of them, and racked up a season-high four sacks.

Senior linebacker Dan Shanley led the unit with three sacks, and made four tackles for loss total. He finished with seven total tackles, second only to senior linebacker Nate Jones, who had eight.

Sophomore defensive lineman Kyle Parran, who missed the first four games of the season due to injury, recorded his first sack of the season. Parran emerged last year as a pass-rushing threat, when he notched six and a half sacks in 13 games.

The Chargers travel to Philippi, West Virginia this weekend to take on the Alderson Broaddus University Battlers on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Chargers first traveled to Alderson Broaddus in 2017, where they defeated the Battlers 37-31. Last season in Hillsdale, the Chargers beat Alderson Broaddus, 45-24.

“From an athletic standpoint, they’re a team with a lot of speed, and they can be very explosive,” Otterbein said. “They’re a team that, on tape, plays well at home. They play with a lot of emotion; they get hyped up.”

The Battlers are 0-7 this season and 0-4 in the G-MAC. Saturday’s game will be the Chargers’ last this season against a team with a losing record, as they play top-conference teams Tiffin University and Ohio Dominican University the final two games of the regular season.