The Dragons came back twice including erasing a 13 point second quarter deficit, holding the lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough as Grand Valley State held off TU for the close 49-42 victory. TU falls to 5-5, 4-5 GLIAC while the Lakers improve to 8-2, 7-2 GLIAC.

Tiffin got out of the gate in fine fashion, as Charles Holland hauled in a 20 yard pass from Antonio Pipkin to cap a 11 play, 75 yard drive and put TU up 7-0.

GVSU bounced back immediately, driving 71 yards and scoring with a 1 yard run to tie the game at 7-7. They added another score on a 33 yard pass at the 3:49 mark of the first quarter to go ahead 13-7. The missed extra point, however, gave TU an opportunity that they soon took advantage of.

TU showed it came to play, bouncing back at the end of the quarter as Tony Shead corralled a 25 yard pass from Pipkin with 7 seconds remaining in the quarter to put TU ahead 14-13.

Grand Valley retook the lead at the start of the second quarter when the Lakers scored on a big 44 yard TD toss, they followed it up with another TD pass of 6 yards as the Lakers pushed their lead to 27-14.

Holland scored again, this time on a 25 yard pass, to bring TU back to within 27-21 with 3:04 to play in the half. The Lakers kept up the pressure, scoring again with 1:13 to go in the half to return to a 13 point lead.

The Dragons came up big just before halftime, driving 79 yards in just 59 seconds and capping it off when Jordan Nobles caught an 8 yard pass and scored with 9 seconds remaining to pull TU to within 34-28 at halftime.

The two teams traded defensive shots throughout the third quarter, with the only points coming when Holland scored his third TD on a 9 yard catch at the 10:29 mark. TU had taken a 35-34 lead at that point and held that lead starting the final period.

The Lakers came up with clutch plays in the final period, scoring two touchdowns and converting a two point PAT attempt to put them ahead 49-35 with 11:30 to go. The Lakers defense contained the Dragons until they finally scored with 1:10 remaining when Jerry Brown hauled in Pipkin's 6th TD pass of the day to bring TU to within 49-42. The Dragons were unable to recover an onside kick, and the Lakers were victorious.

Pipkin's 6 touchdown passes sets a new single game record for TU while his 460 yards passing is the second highest single game total ever, trailing only Greg Freeman's 475 yards. Overall he completed 43 of 59 passes with no interceptions while also battling through 4 sacks.

Holland had 11 catches for 142 yards and 3 TDs while Tony Shead also had 12 catches for 141 yards. Jalen Santoro had 50 yards, while Pedro Correa III had 56 yards and Jerry Brown had 54 yards receiving along with 66 yards rushing. Shead also added 68 yards in kick returns to total 209 yards of total offense.

TU also outgained GVSU 533-477 and racked up 30 first downs to the Lakers' 21. TU battled throughout the game, converting 15 of 22 third down conversions and 2 of 3 fourth down attempts.

Defensively Stefan Willis and Jawan Nelson had 9 tackles each. Jamar Randolph had a sack and Carrington Contee had an interception.