Neither Tiffin nor Ashland lacked for offense in the Dragons' 49-30 loss on the road. Problem was, the Dragons (2-8, 1-7 GLIAC) spent too much of the day playing catchup after the Eagles jumped out to a big lead.
The Dragons fell behind in the first quarter 14-0 to open the game but got back in it at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter when Antonio Pipkin hit Taurean Nicholson on a one-yard TD pass that made the score 14-7.
Ashland scored once more before halftime to make the score 21-7 at the half but it was the third quarter that proved TU's undoing. The Eagles posted two more scores to put them up 35-7 and put the Dragons in a huge hole with a little over a quarter to play.
The Dragons got back on the board in the fourth quarter, as Pipkin rushed in from 4 yards out, capping a 8 play, 78 yard drive at the 12:44 mark and bring the score to 35-14.
Ashland responded immediately, driving 78 yards in 8 plays over 3:12 to jump back out 42-14.
Pipkin threw for another touchdown, this time a 5 yard toss to Marcus Beaurem, with Jerry Brown running in the two-point conversion to narrow the score to 42-22 at the 7:05 mark, but again the Eagles bounced right back, using up 4:57 over 8 plays and 75 yards to lead 49-22 after another score at the 2:08 mark.
TU finished the scoring at 1:13 when Pipkin threw his third TD of the day, this one 2 yards to Tony Shead. Pipkin also ran in the conversion to make the final score 49-30.
The two teams combined for over 1100 yards of offense, with Ashland racking up 615 yards to Tiffin's 499. The Eagles dominated the ground 385-111 while TU controlled the air 388-230.
Pipkin had a big day, passing for 388 yards on 33 of 47 passing with 3 interceptions and 3 touchdowns, while also leading TU with 35 yards rushing and another TD.
Tyler Jones was the top receiver, catching 10 passes for 141 yards while Shead had 87 yards receiving and 143 all purpose yards. Jeremy Armstrong had 76 yards on 4 catches, while Beaurem also had 48 yards receiving.
Defensively Brandon Person had 15 tackles including 13 solo stops along with an interception. Terry Harper had 10 tackles and Antonio Etter posted 9 stops. Bryon McCorkle, Carlton Watkins, and Joseph Collard had 6 tackles apiece.
