For three quarters, the Hillsdale College football team held its own against the No. 2 team in the nation. But the Chargers couldn’t keep pace with the Grand Valley Lakers a full 60 minutes.
Hillsdale led Grand Valley 17-14 at the end of the third quarter on Saturday, but the Lakers scored 21 unanswered points in the final quarter to win 35-17. It was the Chargers’ third consecutive loss and first loss at Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium this season.
Hillsdale is now 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the GLIAC while Grand Valley improved to 8-0.
“I’m really proud of the way our football team played on both sides of the ball. I think we really flew around,” Hillsdale head coach Keith Otterbein said. “We played with a lot of passion today and a lot of emotion.”
The Chargers played the Lakers much closer than the scoreline would suggest. Hillsdale gained 406 yards to Grand Valley’s 470 yards but converted nine more first downs and possessed the ball for 35:33. The Chargers had chances throughout the first three quarters to seize the lead and momentum from the GLIAC’s best team, but they couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities.
“We did some things really well, but we just had some missed opportunities,” said sophomore tailback Joe Reverman, who ran for 125 yards and a touchdown. “You’re not going to beat the No. 2 team in the nation playing like that.”
Hillsdale put together a productive opening drive to start the game but couldn’t cash in. Sophomore quarterback Chance Stewart was sacked on third-and-5 in the red zone and senior kicker Steven Mette’s 36-yard field goal attempt was tipped and fell short of the crossbar.
On their second drive, the Chargers drove deep into Grand Valley territory but once again came away with nothing after Stewart fumbled the ball inside the red zone.
“It came down to a couple missed opportunities on our side,” Otterbein said. “Those make all the difference in the world. It’s a big momentum thing.”
The Lakers opened the scoring on their ensuing drive, when running back Marty Carter broke loose for a 54-yard touchdown.
The Chargers needed just three plays to tie the game. On second-and-6 from Hillsdale’s 44-yard line, sophomore wide receiver Trey Brock caught a short pass from Stewart and raced down the sideline through Grand Valley’s secondary for a 56-yard touchdown.
Stewart finished the game with 259 yards passing and a touchdown and Brock added to his league-leading receiving total with 109 yards and a touchdown.
After those quick scoring drives by both teams, the Lakers put together a 10-play, 85-yard drive to take a 14-7 lead with 8:59 remaining in the second quarter. Wide receiver Urston Smith caught a pass from quarterback Bart Williams and spun his way through Hillsdale defenders for a 20-yard touchdown.
Once again, the Chargers followed Grand Valley with a scoring drive of their own. Reverman capped off a 14-play, 86-yard drive aided by several penalties on the Lakers with a 3-yard touchdown run to bring Hillsdale even at 14-14 with 2:28 remaining in the first half.
“Our offensive line played really well and opened up some huge holes for me,” Reverman said. “With the threat of Trey (Brock) outside and Chance (Stewart), they were trying to take that away and that helped me get some big holes.”
The score remained 14-14 at halftime. The Lakers received the ball first in the second half, but Hillsdale’s defense forced a 3-and-out to give the ball back to its offense with a chance to take the lead. But for the third time, the Chargers squandered a golden opportunity.
The Chargers marched 73 yards down the field but were unable to pull ahead. On third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Stewart fumbled a handoff and the Lakers recovered.
“It was a totally different game after you have that,” Otterbein said. “As much as our guys try to stay engaged, that’s like a sock right in the gut. But they hung in there and they kept playing and I’m just really proud of them.”
Following the turnover, Hillsdale’s defense came up with another stop and this time the offense took advantage. Steven Mette converted a 35-yard field goal with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter to give the Chargers their first lead of the game.
Facing their first second-half deficit of the season, the Lakers put together an 8-play, 82-yard touchdown drive to take a 21-17 lead. Carter capped off the drive with a 14-yard touchdown rush.
The Lakers then forced a 3-and-out and added another touchdown on the first play of their ensuing possession. Wide receiver Matt Williams ran behind Hillsdale’s secondary and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from Bart Williams to give the Lakers a 28-17 lead with 13:07 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers added their third straight touchdown with 3:56 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Carter picked up his third touchdown of the game on a 10-yard run to give the Lakers a 35-17 lead.
Otterbein said the lopsided fourth quarter was a result of “big plays and a couple missed tackles” on defense and being forced to throw the ball more on offense playing from behind.
“They popped a couple big plays on us, and we couldn’t hang in there,” Otterbein said. “Then once it came to throwing it every down, that’s not what we do. 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.”
The Chargers will take some positives away from the loss, but they wanted the upset.
“I’m not a huge believer in moral victories,” Reverman said. “I’d rather have won and learned the same lessons, 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.”
Otterbein was proud of the way his defense played for three quarters.
“In the end they just kind of ran out of gas,” Otterbein said. “But I think our kids really rallied to the ball well and played hard. I thought we did a really good job controlling the line of scrimmage. I don’t think we got pushed around by any means.”
The Chargers will look for their first road win of the season in their final road game of the year next Saturday at Northern Michigan. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
“You can feel bad here until Monday but once we go back to work, we can’t sit there and feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to move on and get ready for the next one,” 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.”