Tiffin University (4-1 overall, 4-1 GLIAC) made the most of its Homecoming Game, celebrating 30 years of Dragons football with a solid 31-7 win over Wayne State on a cold and drizzly day at Frost Kalnow Stadium.
The TU defense stood tall, holding the Warriors to just 7 points in the game and a total of 229 yards in the game.They picked off 2 passes and posted 4 sacks and allowed just 12 first downs all day.
TU's offense, meanwhile, proved efficient, controlling the clock with 33:50 of possession time while outgaining WSU 437 to 229 in total offense. They had a balanced attack with 281 yards on the ground and 156 through the air and racked up 23 first downs, 16 of them on the ground.
TU opened the scoring with a 12 play, 75 yard drive that culminated in a 23 yard field goal at 4:18 of the first quarter.
TU made it 10-0 when Charles Holland made a sensational 14 yard reception of a Antonio Pipkin pass at 12:23 of the second quarter. Wayne State bounced back quickly after getting great field position on a kick return, as Romello Brown rushed in from 2 yards out to make it 10-7 at the 9:33 mark.
TU tacked on another score before halftime, using another long drive covering 11 plays and 88 yards when Pipkin rushed in from 6 yards out to make 17-7 TU at the break.
After a scoreless 3rd quarter, the Dragons started to separate themselves from the Warriors. With 13:24 left in the game, Tony Shead capped off a 83 yard, 7 play drive with a 16 yard TD catch from Pipkin that put TU up 24-7. They then put the game away with a huge 46 yard run by Pipkin with 4:57 to play.
TU got a pair of great rushing performances, as Pipkin finished with 169 yards rushing and 2 TDs on 14 carries (12.1 per rush) while Jerry Brown had 122 yards rushing on 26 tough carries. Pipkin added 156 yards through the air on 13 of 22 passing with 2 more TDs and just one sack. Overall Pipkin accounted for 321 yards of offense.
Pedro Correa III had 87 yards receiving on 5 catches while also averaging over 7 yards per punt return. Josh Brebant helped the team with a 42.8 yards per punt average.
Defensively Stefan Willis and Jalen Randolph led with 9 tackles each, with Randolph adding a sack and 3 tackles for loss. Jesse Stoudt had 7 tackles and Tommy Pritchard had 6 tackles with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Johnny Joseph and Kevin Lefeld also had sacks, while Joseph and Jawan Nelson had interceptions.
