There’s no shame in losing to the No. 2 team in the nation, but that doesn’t mean it’s not painful.
The Hillsdale College football team came far closer to upsetting the Grand Valley Lakers on Saturday than the final score of 35-17 would suggest. Despite squandering three red-zone scoring chances in the first three quarters, the Chargers took a 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter. But the Lakers scored 21 unanswered points in the final quarter to make an even battle look like a rout.
It was Hillsdale’s third straight loss — but it showed just how little separates good teams from great ones.
“We definitely showed ourselves that we can play with anyone. We should’ve beat them. We had them,” junior linebacker Jay Rose said. “It sucks we lost, but it’s reassuring heading into the last three weeks.”
On the opening drive of the game, the Chargers drove deep down the field. But the Lakers came up with a third-down stop in the red zone and blocked Hillsdale’s ensuing field goal attempt.
On their next drive, the Chargers again drove into the red zone but failed to put points on the board as the Lakers forced and recovered a fumble by sophomore quarterback Chance Stewart.
In the third quarter with the game tied 14-14, the Chargers had a first-and-goal opportunity at Grand Valley’s 4-yard line. Two rushes by sophomore tailback Joe Reverman brought the Chargers a yard away from the end zone. On third-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Stewart faked a handoff but dropped the ball, and the Lakers recovered.
“It’s a totally different game after you have that. As much as our guys try to stay engaged, that’s like a sock right in the gut.” Otterbein said. “It makes all the difference in the world. It’s a big momentum thing.”
Despite squandering several chances, the Chargers led going into the final quarter against the second-ranked team in the country. But those missed opportunities came back to bite them.
“When you have opportunities like those you need to capitalize, and we just missed too many of those,” Reverman said. “You’re not going to beat the No. 2 team in the country playing like that.”
The Lakers took a 21-17 lead on the second play of the fourth quarter. After the Chargers went 3-and-out on their ensuing possession, the Lakers put another touchdown on the board on the next play when quarterback Bart Williams connected with wide receiver Matt Williams for a 55-yard touchdown.
Trailing by two possessions in the final quarter, the Chargers were forced to abandon their balanced offense which had worked for three quarters for a quick-tempo, pass-heavy attack. The Chargers couldn’t mount a comeback, while Grand Valley added their third touchdown of the final quarter.
“Once it came to throwing it every down, that’s not what we do,” Otterbein said. “When we were able to mix it and throw some first-down passes and run some second-down stuff it was good, but once you start trying to be a pocket team against a pass-rushing team like that, you don’t have a very good chance.”
Through three quarters, the Chargers gained more yards than the Lakers (321-302) and possessed the ball for eight more minutes than the Lakers (26:38-18:22), but in the final quarter, Grand Valley outgained Hillsdale 168-85 even though Hillsdale had the ball for a majority of the final quarter (8:55-6:05). Giving up big plays has been an issue for the Chargers during their three-game losing streak, and Bart Williams’ 55-yard touchdown strike to put Grand Valley ahead 28-17 put the Chargers in a hole they couldn’t climb out.
“They popped a couple big plays on us, and we couldn’t hang in there,” Otterbein said. “In the end you just kind of run out of gas.”
The Chargers also struggled on third downs on both sides of the ball. Hillsdale converted just three of 12 third downs while the Lakers converted seven of 13 third downs.
“We had a couple third-and-long situations and third-and-short too where if we would’ve stopped them it would’ve been a whole different game,” Rose said. “We’ve just got to be better on third downs.”
The Chargers recognize the positives and lessons that can be taken from Saturday’s loss, but they desperately wanted the win.
“I’m not a huge believer in moral victories. I’d rather have won and learned the same lessons,” Reverman said. “But there’s a lot of things we did right that hopefully we can learn from and take on to the rest of the season.”
One positive — the Chargers weren’t at their best for three quarters and still led the No. 2 team in the nation after 45 minutes.
“We can play with anyone. We’re a good team,” Rose said. “When we’re at our best we can really take anyone down and we’ve just got to carry that through the last three weeks.”
Otterbein was also pleased with his team’s effort.
“I was really proud of the way our football team played on both sides of the ball. I think we really flew around,” Otterbein said. “We played with a lot of passion and a lot of emotion.”
Otterbein also saw several positives in Hillsdale’s defensive performance.
“We really did a good job controlling the line of scrimmage. I don’t think we got pushed around by any means,” Otterbein said. “At minimum we held our own against the No. 2 team in the country.”
Hillsdale will play its final away game of the season on Saturday at Northern Michigan at 1 p.m. Like the Chargers, the Wildcats have lost three in a row. The Chargers are looking for their first win on the road this year.
“They’re one of those teams who plays really well at home. They’ve got good skill,” Otterbein said. “We’ve got to play 60 minutes of football like we did for three quarters today. To do that you’ve got to be really mentally tough.”
Northern Michigan features a pass-heavy offense which will test Hillsdale’s defense.
“We’re just going to have to make sure we defend. They do a lot of run-pass option so you’ve got to defend that,” Rose said. “It just comes down to making plays, being in the right spot, and making tackles.”