Junior Jonah Jensen and Freshman Ryin Ruddy celebrate on final drive. Courtesy | Steve Southerington
You could hear a pin drop by the end of Kentucky Wesleyan College’s homecoming game as the Charger football team destroyed them 41-7 and earned its third win of the season and back-to-back wins for the first time this year.
The Chargers set the tone for the game in the very first play as sophomore wide receiver Shea Ruddy took the opening kickoff all the way back for what would have been his third kick return touchdown if not for a holding call. Nevertheless, sophomore quarterback Colin McKernan handed the ball off to senior wide receiver Logan VanEnkevort who took the ball 75 yards for six points on the second play from scrimmage.
“I was super blessed to be able to play this week. I was injured for a while so it was great to come back healthy,” VanEnkevort said. “The team execution made it very easy for me to put up some yardage, the offensive line was blocking their tails off and receivers were doing their job on the exterior and downfield.”
VanEnkevort had a career high 175 rushing yards, as well as two touchdowns and an average of 14.6 yards per carry, bringing his total to 423 rushing yards this season. In addition to VanEnkevort, redshirt freshman running back Zach Tetler contributed 32 rushing yards and two touchdowns, his fourth straight game with a touchdown this year. The Charger offense finished with a combined total of 292 rushing yards.
With such an emphasis on the ground game, sophomore quarterback Colin McKernan recorded only 12 passing attempts, but he completed five of them and also scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter.
“We definitely earned this win as a team,” McKernan said. “Personally I have a lot of things to work on but as a team we played well as a cohesive unit.”
Redshirt freshman tight end Andrew Konieczny led the Chargers in receiving with two catches for 51 yards, including a 38-yard reception in the third quarter. Also catching passes were redshirt sophomore David Dorn and freshman Tutt Carrico, as well as senior tight end Ty Williams.
The defensive dominance was just as high as the offensive on Saturday for Hillsdale. Senior defensive back Matt Soderdahl had his third interception in the last two games, and this time he ran the ball back 35 yards for his first career pick six.
“Getting these turnovers has been great,” Soderdahl said. “That’s my first pick six since I was like 14 so it was awesome to see after all of the work we put in during the off-season.”
Sophomore defensive back Cos Davis also had an interception for the Chargers, his first in a Charger uniform. The Charger defense combined for three sacks and five tackles-for-loss. Sophomore defensive end Drake Badger earned his team-leading fifth sack of the year, while senior defensive back Vince Francescone led the Chargers with six total tackles.
“We totally cut out the simple mistakes we’ve been making the past few weeks,” Soderdahl said. “We came out hot and we finished hot.”
The Chargers improved to 3-5 with the win, and now have three games remaining in the 2024 conference season, with two of those games on home turf. Hillsdale will host the Thomas More Saints for Military Appreciation Day this Saturday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m., followed by the annual Senior Day game against Great Midwest Athletic Conference rival the Tiffin University Dragons on Nov. 9, at 1 p.m.
“The biggest key will be playing on the momentum we’ve generated these last two games,” VanEnkevort said. “It finally feels like we got a win that we can be proud of, and although we have a lot to work on, this was a game we can look back on and say that we beat them up and down the field.”