The rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was relentless on Saturday at Wickes Stadium in University Center, Michigan, but the weather played right to the Hillsdale College football team’s strengths.
Hillsdale’s offense stuck to the running game and the defense committed itself to stopping the run, as the Chargers blanked the Saginaw Valley Cardinals 26-0 for their first road shutout in four years.
The Chargers have now won two games in a row to improve to 3-5 in the GLIAC and 3-6 overall.
“The weather was a huge factor. I can’t remember in 37 years of coaching where neither team absolutely could not throw it. It was like the ball was greased up,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “There were some different looking passes, so you eliminate that part of it for both sides. I think probably as a football team in total — offense, defense, and special teams — we probably executed our plan to the best level that we have all year and I think we did a nice job of adapting to the weather.”
With both teams running the ball a majority of the time due to the weather, Hillsdale’s focus on stopping the run paid off. The Chargers held the Cardinals to just 105 total yards of offense and six first downs.
“The weather helped us out a lot, because it’s almost impossible to throw in weather like that,” said sophomore linebacker Jay Rose, who recovered a fumble in the second quarter. “We knew if we could just stop Saginaw’s run then we’d win and we did that.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Chance Stewart and a pair of Cardinals quarterbacks combined to complete just 10 passes for 83 yards.
“On a dry day we would have mixed in a little bit more play-action pass, spread out, boot, that kind of stuff,” Otterbein said. “We had hoped that we could take a couple shots down field and the weather wasn’t letting us do that.”
Redshirt freshman Joe Reverman tallied his second consecutive 200-yard rushing performance with 224 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries. Reverman has gained 500 yards in his last two games alone.
“It was so rainy, no team could complete a pass, so we were forced to run, which we like,” Reverman said. “Our offensive line has just been playing really well the last few games so I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Reverman, who has been thrust into the starting role due to injuries, has impressed Otterbein with his style of play.
“He’s a really hard worker, really knowledgeable, and very good in pass protection for his body size,” Otterbein said. “He’s just a good instinctive football player. I don’t think there’s many guys rushing for 200 yards that also run down the field as a gunner on the punt team or run down the field as a bullet on the kickoff coverage team.”
Because Reverman’s offensive role has increased, Otterbein is trying to lessen Reverman’s other duties.
“He has been very special when he’s been touching the ball, so we’re trying to keep a balance with that, but also trying to play our best players and make us the best team we can be any snap.”
Reverman did not expect to see this many snaps in his first year.
“I don’t mind getting this many touches, but I definitely didn’t expect it coming into the year for sure,” Reverman said. “This experience will definitely help me for next year. I think I’ll be more prepared and we have a lot of other guys coming back too so it’ll be big.”
The Chargers will hit the road again this weekend to face the Northwood Timberwolves on Saturday at 1 p.m. Northwood is the only team Hillsdale plays this year that has a grass field — a majority of teams play on turf — so the Chargers have been practicing on the IM fields since Tuesday to prepare for the different surface.
“Grass is different so our guys have got to get used to grass,” Otterbein said. “It is different, but we’re going to pretty much say, ‘We’re on grass and it’s not going to be an issue.’ The field conditions cannot enter our mind.”
The Chargers are trying to make the playing surface a non-factor, but Northwood boasts arguably one of the best home-field advantages in the GLIAC. The Timberwolves are 4-4 in the GLIAC this season, but are 4-0 at home.
“They’ve played some good teams really tough so we certainly have our hands full,” Otterbein said. “They’re a good home team, they play really hard, and they’ve got athletes.”
The Timberwolves run an option offense and have some tall athletic receivers, so unlike Saturday, the Chargers will have to keep both the running game and the passing game in check.
“There’s a lot that goes into making sure we have all phases of the option defended, so there will be a little bit more preparation in that aspect,” Rose said. “We’ve just got to keep building off what we’ve been doing the past couple weeks and we should be good if we do that.”
