In the words of one observer who has seen all of Ohio Dominican's opponents this season, Tiffin University's defensive performance on Senior Day was the best the Panthers had faced all season.
Unfortunately, Tiffin's offense could not make any headway against the Panthers' defense, as ODU defeated a determined Tiffin team 18-0 in the Dragons' home finale. Tiffin falls to 2-7, 1-6 GLIAC, while the 11th-ranked Panthers remain unbeaten at 8-0, 7-0 GLIAC.
Tiffin allowed just one touchdown in the game, a 58 yard run near the end of the first quarter by Brandon Schoen. ODU's Brent Wahle booted four field goals to account for the Panthers' other points.
Tiffin's defense battled hard all day in one of their top performances of the season, keeping TU to a 12-0 halftime deficit. But Tiffin could manage just 10 yards of offense by the half, as the Panthers got penetration throughout the game and kept TU quarterback Antonio Pipkin scrambling most of the day.
Overall Pipkin was sacked 4 times and threw 2 interceptions while completing 17 of 35 passes for just 102 yards. Marcus Beaurem had 8 catches for 35 yards while Jeremy Armstrong had 5 receptions for 27 yards. Oliver Cyprian was Tiffin's leading rusher with 61 yards on 5 carries.
Overall TU was outgained 381 to 158 in total offense, including 264 to 56 on the ground as the Panthers had two running backs rush for over 100 yards (Schoen with 152 and Mark Nichols with 109 yards).
Tiffin had 4 turnovers on the day, with 2 fumbles going against them along with the 2 interceptions. ODU had 21 first downs to Tiffin's 7, with the Dragons connecting on just 2 of 16 third down conversions.
The Dragons had numerous standouts defensively, with Brandon Person totaling 15 tackles with 3 tackles for loss and an interception. Joseph Collard had 13 tackles with 2 for loss, and Terry Harper had 10 tackles.
Antonio Etter had 9 tackles, Stefan Willis added 8 tackles with 2 for loss and an interception, and Bryon McCorkle and Jesse Stoudt had 7 tackles each. Overall the TU defense registered 10 tackles for loss and 2 interceptions in the game.
