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Defiance at Adrian Box Score
ADRIAN, Mich. – On a night in which Adrian College unveiled its new football stadium with a host of festivities, it was the Defiance College defense that stole the show by holding AC scoreless en route to a thrilling 10-0 Yellow Jacket victory.
Adrian, which was heralded as a top-20 team in Street & Smith’s Top-25 preseason poll, was on its heels for much of the night as DC controlled the action, making one big play after another with a suffocating, high-pressure defensive attack.
The Yellow Jacket defensive unit held AC to just 27 rushing yards on 25 carries and forced the Bulldogs into five turnovers.
The Defiance offense was solid as well, committing only one turnover and winning the battle of field position against one of the most highly touted defenses in the nation. The Jackets held the ball for nearly 31 minutes and racked up 145 of 208 total yards on the ground.
The first half was played nearly entirely on Adrian’s half of the field as DC was only forced to defend on its side of the 50 for a total of five plays in the opening 30 minutes.
The solid field position finally paid off for the Jackets as DC capped off a 15-play, 67-yard drive with a 25-yard field goal off the foot of Dan Brown. The scoring drive drained over seven minutes off the clock and gave Defiance the 3-0 advantage.
Adrian put together its best drive of the half on its next possession in an effort to answer the DC score. The Bulldogs advanced to the Defiance 26-yard line before being pushed back to their own 39 after a personal foul penalty. AC’s quarterback, Andy Denryter, then tried to get those yards right back on the next play, but Nate Fitton picked off the deep pass at the 15 and the Jackets headed to the lockers with a 3-0 lead.
The Bulldogs looked to get on track out of the break and seemingly grabbed momentum after recovering a DC fumble on the Yellow Jackets’ own 35 yard line on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Denryter followed up the fumble recovery by stringing together three consecutive pass completions and scrambling for three more yards to move the Bulldogs to the DC six-yard line. The Jackets refused to break however, as Tyler Haines intercepted the next Denryter offering in the end zone to preserve the 3-0 DC lead.
The score remained 3-0 in favor of DC until another Adrian turnover setup a touchdown drive for the Jackets. Chris Tietje jarred the ball loose from Patrick Reagan and Keith Snyder scooped up free ball on Adrian’s own 35. After an eight-yard rush by Vetter set up a third and short, Jason Gendron broke through the AC front line and scampered 27 yards to pay dirt and a 10-0 Defiance lead with 8:10 left to play in the game.
Adrian would have three more chances in the closing minutes but a Snyder interception and a missed 42-yard field goal kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard and sealed the 10-0 victory for the Yellow Jackets.
Vetter bounced back from his week-one struggles to complete eight of 17 passes for 63 yards and also ran for 55 yards on 15 carries. Gendron went for a game-high 61 yards on 13 carries including the 27-yard touchdown scamper and Tobias Toumi paced all DC receivers with three receptions for 22 yards.
Haines led a stout defensive effort by the Jackets with 7.5 tackles while adding three hits for a loss, one interception, one sack and one quarterback hurry. Snyder added a pair of picks and a fumble recovery to his 5.5 total tackles and Jason Bushong had five hits and two pass breakups.
As a team DC racked up nine tackles which resulted in negative yardage for Adrian, five sacks for a total of 41 yards, four interceptions, one fumble recovery and three pass breakups.
The win improves Defiance to 28-24-1 all-time against Adrian and moves head coach Robert Taylor into a tie for 10th-place in school history for career wins as a head coach. Taylor is now even with Victor Rowen (1951-53) in the record books with 12 wins and is just two back of tying Emerald Wilson (1927-1930) for ninth place.
Defiance (1-1) will return home for its final non-conference game of the year on Saturday. The Jackets will host Tri-State inside Coressel Stadium with kick-off scheduled for 1:30 pm.
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