Redshirt freshman Jacob Vane had nine total tackles in the game against Tiffin University. Courtesy | Anthony Lupi

The Hillsdale Charger football team failed to continue the momentum from its week five win against Northwood University, dropping the week six game against the Tiffin University Dragons 35-21 Oct. 7. 

Despite the team’s loss to its undefeated G-MAC rival, senior running back Michael Herzog continued his stellar senior season. Herzog put up 146 yards rushing, which was his fourth game this season with 100 or more rushing yards. Currently, Herzog is second in the G-MAC in rushing yards with 628, behind Tiffin’s Ronald Blackmon with 640. Herzog also scored all three of Hillsdale’s touchdowns on the day, which was his second career game with three touchdowns. Herzog currently leads the G-MAC in rushing touchdowns with nine and in all-purpose yards with 1,018 through six games. 

Herzog still recognized where the team needed to improve in order to finish the season on a strong note. 

“We didn’t take care of the football and struggled with too many pre-snap penalties,” Herzog said. “Against Northwood, we had zero turnovers and much less yards in penalties. The goal for this week is to play disciplined against a strong Kentucky Wesleyan team.”

In his second start this season, senior quarterback Jake Burger completed 9-19 passing attempts, which was good for 125 yards with four interceptions. One of the nine passes included a 40 yard shot to freshman wide receiver Shea Ruddy in the third quarter. 

“The team’s biggest area of struggle Saturday was us creating our own problems,” Burger said. “We needed to be able to bounce back from them.”

Ruddy is currently second in receiving yards for Hillsdale with 218, behind sophomore wide receiver Sam Lee who has 328. 

“We have the potential to do great things in these last five games and we’re working on doing that,” Ruddy said, who led the Chargers in receiving yards against Tiffin with 72 total on two receptions. “The season has been going pretty good for me. I’ve made some plays here and there and I would like to make some more.”

Defensively, despite giving up 35 points, the Chargers forced two turnovers against a high-powered Tiffin offense. Senior defensive back Sam Zemis picked off a deep pass from Tiffin quarterback James Dean to give the Charger offense another shot to make a comeback. 

Junior defensive back Matt Soderdahl also contributed to the defensive effort with a forced fumble while the Dragons were on Hillsdale’s 11 yard line, preventing another Tiffin touchdown. Soderdahl finished with 12 tackles, including seven solo tackles, and two pass breakups. Freshman linebacker Jacob Vance carried the momentum from his stellar performance against Northwood, finishing with nine total tackles and a sack. 

The loss drops Hillsdale to 1-5 overall, with a 1-3 conference record. The Chargers look to improve their conference record against the Kentucky Wesleyan University Panthers Oct. 14. The Panthers enter Muddy Waters Stadium with a 3-3 overall record, while being 2-2 in conference play. The Chargers look to avenge a 31-27 loss to the Panthers from last season.