For the second straight week, the Hillsdale College football team saw a close game at the half turn into a blowout.
Behind 25 unanswered points in the second half, the Grand Valley State Lakers routed the Hillsdale Chargers 46-14 in front of 12,552 fans at Lubbers Stadium on Grand Valley’s homecoming night.
With 42 seconds remaining in the first half and the Chargers down 21-7, sophomore defensive back Spencer Nehls returned an interception 55 yards to the Grand Valley 1-yard line, and senior quarterback CJ Mifsud took it in himself on the next play to cut Hillsdale’s deficit to just a touchdown entering the break.
But the Lakers found the end zone on a long touchdown drive to begin the third quarter, and then recorded a safety after a long snap sailed over the head of junior Steven Mette who was on to punt with 8:25 remaining in the third quarter.
The Chargers couldn’t recover.
“We were doing some really good things in the first half, grinding it out. The interception was a big momentum swing,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “But then you have the halftime break so you’ve got to come out and recapture that energy, and it didn’t work out.”
The loss drops the Chargers to 1-4 on the season and 1-3 in the GLIAC. With the season nearing the half-way point and his team mired in a three-game losing streak, Otterbein implied that he is considering some personnel changes.
“We’re working on things,” Otterbein said. “We’ve got to schematically put together the best plan we can and find the best players to execute that plan.”
Two Chargers made their collegiate debuts on Saturday. Freshman Austin Sandusky started at cornerback, while redshirt freshman quarterback Chance Stewart came into the contest at the end of the third quarter and finished the game for Hillsdale. Stewart completed two of his seven passes for 16 yards, and had a 7-yard rush.
“It felt great to take my first steps as a collegiate athlete,” Stewart said. “I’m still a far ways away from where I want to be as a quarterback, but it was an okay first step.”
“He handled it really well and he had some really nice throws,” senior left guard Justice Karmie said. “He did a really great job and whatever the situation is going into next week, whether it’s Chance getting some playing time or CJ, we are completely confident in both of those guys so we’ll feel good about whoever is in there.”
Hillsdale’s toughest stretch of the season continues this Saturday at Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium at 2:30 p.m against the Ohio Dominican Panthers, who are 3-2 this season and made the playoffs last year.
“They’re very disciplined, but they absolutely fly around as much as anybody we play,” Otterbein said. “Pick your poison, they’re good across the board.”
With another big opponent looming, the Chargers are looking inward.
“The last two opponents we’ve had are both playoff-caliber football teams. We’ve got another playoff-caliber football team this week, so it’s a big challenge but we’ve got to worry about ourselves,” Otterbein said. “The focus in practice is working on the fundamentals that will allow us to play at a higher level.”
Karmie said the Chargers “embrace” the underdog role.
“We need to do a better job of competing from that role but we’re excited. We love the opportunity to go play against a team that’s supposed to wipe the floor with us,” Karmie said. “It’s a huge opportunity for us to go prove ourselves which we haven’t done to this point in the season.”
