Tiffin University (5-3, 4-3 GLIAC) used its trademark pinpoint passing attack and a stingy defense to jump out to a 31-3 lead in the fourth quarter, then held off a late charge by Hillsdale in winning 31-24.
For the first three quarters, the Dragons controlled the tempo. They opened the game with an 80 yard drive, rushing on two-thirds of their plays before Antonio Pipkin rushed in from 9 yards out for the game's first score at the 11:08 mark to make it 7-0.
The Dragons got another score at 11:24 of the second quarter when Kyle Yoder blocked a Chargers punt and Brandon Person picked it up from 10 yards out and returned it for the score. Hillsdale's only points of the half came when Steven Mette kicked a 32 yard field goal with 5:08 left to make it 14-3 at the half.
The Dragons got those three points back when Tomislav Derezic booted a 25 yard field goal at 6:35 of the third quarter, pushing Tiffin's lead back to 14 points at 17-3.
The Dragons then got its passing game clicking on its next two possessions, as TU drove 66 and 78 yards on scoring drives. Marcus Beaurem hauled in a 28 yard pass from Pipkin for one score, and then Charles Holland took a crossing route and streaked 77 yards to put the Dragons ahead 31-3 early in the fourth quarter. The Dragons at this point had amassed 420 yards of offense while holding Hillsdale to just over 200.
With the win seemingly in hand, the Chargers mounted a comeback. Hillsdale scored three touchdowns starting at the 7:52 mark of the fourth quarter, closing to within one score with 1:01 to play. The Dragons' Pedro Correa, however, recovered the onside kick to seal the victory for TU.
TU outgained Hillsdale in total offense 421-386, including 325 through the air on efficient 22 of 30 passing with no interceptions. They also held Hillsdale to just 5 of 15 on third down conversions.
Pipkin enjoyed another good day, passing for 2 TDs on 22 of 30 passing for 325 yards while also rushing for 45 yards and another score. Holland was the prime beneficiary, catching 5 passes for 110 yards while Beaurem also had 4 catches for 62 yards. Holland and Beaurem also accounted for 203 all-purpose yards.
Seth Pekoe had a fine day punting, averaging 49 yards per punt and placing half of his kicks inside the 20. Derezic was also perfect, hitting all four PATs while also making a field goal.
Defensively, TU had many standouts. Person came to play, making 16 tackles including 12 solo stops while forcing a fumble and recovering it while also returning a blocked punt for a score. Justin Herrnstein also had 10 tackles with a tackle for loss.
Carlton Watkins had 7 tackles with an interception and 2 passes broken up, while D.J. Stewart also had 6 tackles. Jalen Randolph and Shawn Scott had 5 tackles each, and Morgan Loyd had 4 tackles with a sack.
