Over the last five meetings, Tiffin University and Malone have played extremely close games, with the average margin of victory being around 5 points per game.
The 2015 game between the two certainly continued the trend, as the Dragons and Pioneers battled to overtime before TU eked out a 27-24 victory on the road. TU improves to 3-1 overall, 3-1 GLIAC.
It certainly looked early on like TU would run away with the win, as they posted a 9-0 lead while also missing an extra point and a field goal after one quarter of play. Charles Holland caught a 12 yard TD pass from Antonio Pipkin on a long opening drive, while Tomislav Derezic booted a 23 yard field goal at the 4:41 mark of the first quarter to make it 9-0.
The Pioneers finally broke through offensively in the second quarter, scoring on a 75 yard TD run to get on the board early in the second quarter. Overall, Malone ran wild, outrushing TU 274-78 in the game while TU found success through the air with 387 passing yards.
Malone took the lead on another TD run at the 7:14 mark, giving them a 14-9 halftime lead.
Tiffin struck quickly in the third quarter, however, as Jalen Santoro hauled in a 72 yard TD toss from Pipkin to make it 15-14. Derezic then continued his record-setting day, kicking 2 more field goals covering 29 and 23 yards as TU pushed its lead to 21-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, Malone drove down to the TU 25 yard line but had its drive ended by Stefan Willis, who made an interception in the end zone. TU maintained its 7 point lead until Malone scored on a 21 yard run with 6:55 left to tie it at 21-21.
Derezic then booted his fourth field goal of the day, this time a huge kick from 46 yards, to give TU a 24-21 lead. The Pioneers got ready for a final drive and appeared to be stalled around midfield when they connected on a 30 yard pass with just 7 seconds left to get themselves in field goal range. A 30 yard field goal sent the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, TU got a 36 yard field goal, Derezic's school-record fifth of the game, to take a 27-24 lead. Malone got its chance to match TU but on fourth down and 4 yards to go from the TU 19 yard line, Willis made his second interception of the game to end it and give TU the victory.
Overall TU outgained Malone 465-427 but the defense held Malone to just 2 for 12 on third-down conversions. They also registered 6 sacks in the game, with Jesse Stoudt, Kevin Lefeld, Jalen Randolph, Victor Cave, Morgan Loyd, and Willie Mays all getting sacks.
Pipkin finished with 387 yards passing and 40 yards rushing, tossing 2 TDs on 24 of 41 passing and just one interception. Santoro led TU with 130 yards receiving on 5 catches, while Tony Shead also had 130 yards on 6 receptions. Pedro Correa added 70 receiving yards.
Jawan Nelson led TU with 9 tackles and 2 tackles for loss, while Johnny Joseph had 7 tackles and Willis had 6 tackles with 2 picks. Roamelle Bell Stoudt also had 6 tackles.
