The football team won its third straight game last Saturday, defeating the Thomas More University Saints 38-17 at home on Military Appreciation Day and improving its season record to 4-5, after an 0-4 start.

The Chargers took an early lead and never looked back, making it back-to-back games in which the team didn’t trail the entire game. 

“As a team we’ve been very smart,” sophomore quarterback Colin McKernan said. “We’ve been reading our keys well, and I’m confident that this team can win out.”

McKernan finished with 14 completed passes on 22 attempts for 170 total passing yards, including one touchdown through the air and two rushing touchdowns. He now has 1,247 total passing yards in his first season as a starter.

The Charger quarterback also spread the ball around to nine different receivers on Saturday, with the most receptions going to sophomore wide receiver Connor Pratt. Pratt hauled in five passes for 26 yards, including a four-yard catch that gave Hillsdale a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

Senior wide receiver Logan VanEnkevort continued his streak with another game of more than 100 rushing yards, finishing with 133 yards and bringing his season total to 548 in only seven games.  

“I think this was a great week,” VanEnkevort said. “Defense definitely played their hearts out. Holding a team to negative four rushing yards doesn’t happen very often.” 

The Chargers continued their domination of the run game, putting up a net total of 273 rushing yards from eight different players, as well as four of Hillsdale’s five touchdowns coming from the ground game. In addition to McKernan’s two rushing touchdowns, senior running back Kyle Riffel and sophomore wide receiver Shea Ruddy scored rushing touchdowns of their own. Ruddy extended his Great Midwest Athletic Conference lead in all-purpose yards, totaling 1,542 on the season.

“We’ve definitely found our stride these last few weeks,” Ruddy said. “We just have to keep doing our thing, and prepare hard this week since we have a tough opponent this week.”

Defensively, Hillsdale stymied the Saints’ running game, holding Thomas More to negative four rushing yards through four quarters. Senior linebacker Jake Maloney had a season-high six tackles, which led all Charger defensive players. Hillsdale had a combined total of four sacks, including one each from senior defensive lineman Hunter Sperling and junior defensive lineman Neal Likens. 

In addition to the dominance on the front lines, the Chargers combined for six pass breakups, including two from senior defensive back Matt Soderdahl, who leads the team with seven this season along with his three interceptions. Soderdahl is followed by senior defensive back Vince Francescone, who snagged his second interception of the year right before halftime. 

The Chargers will look to extend their win streak in their final home game against their G-MAC rival the Tiffin University Dragons this Saturday Nov. 9 in the annual Senior Day and Blue Out game at 1 p.m., during which they will look to avenge a 35-21 loss to Tiffin last season.