If Tiffin University wanted to erase the memory of their opening season loss at Walsh last week, they found a great way of doing it at Saginaw Valley State.
Tiffin University (1-1, 1-1 GLIAC) posted the first road GLIAC victory in their history under the lights in Saginaw, Michigan, beating the Cardinals 28-17 in a game in which the Dragons came back from a 7-0 deficit and never trailed after the 5:31 mark of the opening quarter. It was the first road victory for the Dragons since 2007, and it was highlighted by an offense and defense that was firing on all cylinders.
The Dragons offense racked up 383 yards of offense and held the Cardinals to just 267 yards. They had 21 first downs to SVSU's 14. The offense was also highly efficient on third down, converting 7 of 11 chances.
After the Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a 22 yard touchdown run at the 8:58 mark of the first quarter, the Dragons responded immediately, driving 78 yards on 8 plays before Antonio Pipkin ran in the ball from 12 yards out to tie the score 7-7 at the 5:31 mark.
TU then took the lead for good on Tomaslav Derezic's 25 yard field goal at 7:36 of the second quarter. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were missing opportunities, as two field goal attempts went wide right in the opening half.
Derezic nailed another field goal, this time from 40 yards out, as time ran out in the second quarter. The score at the break favored TU 13-7.
TU's defense got great penetration throughout the night, posting 10 tackles for loss in the game and holding SVSU to just 125 yards of offense in the second half, 17 yards fewer than they allowed in the first half.
The Dragons added to their lead in the third quarter, as Marcus Beaurem hauled in a 23 yard pass from Pipkin at 10:17 to jump ahead 21-7. But after a Pipkin interception, the Cardinals tried to claw back into it, scoring on a 9 yard TD pass and then booting a 45 yard field goal with 13:19 to play in the game to cut the score to 21-17.
Tiffin, however, refused to back down, immediately coming back and scoring on a 10 yard Jerry Brown run at 11:13 to push the lead back up to 28-17. The game then fell into the hands of the defense, which continued to hold the Cardinals at bay. The Dragons then ran the final 6:00 off the clock with solid ball control offense to seal the victory.
Pipkin finished with 288 total yards of offense, passing for 229 yards on 22 of 31 passing while rushing for 59 more yards on 10 carries. He rushed for a touchdown and passed for another. Jerry Brown led the team with 75 yards rushing on 15 carries while also gaining 12 more yards on 2 receptions.
Pedro Correa hauled in 5 passes for 86 yards, while Austen Rankin had 4 catches for 56 yards and Beaurem had 50 yards receiving on 6 catches with another score.
Terry Harper led the swarming TU defense with 12 tackles, while Shawn Scott also had 8 stops. Carlton Watkins had 6 tackles, while Brandon Person and Darius Walker had 5 tackles apiece.
