September 15

Dillon Recognized by Don Hansen's Football Gazette

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College’s Luke Dillon has garnered national recognition for his record-breaking performance at Otterbein. The senior wideout set the Defiance and Heartland Conference records with 253 yards receiving, while tying the school and league records with 17 receptions and was named to Don Hansen’s National Weekly Football Gazette National-Player-of-the-Week list on Saturday.

The national honor is the first of Dillon’s career, who joins four other Division III offensive players on the list. Dillon was also tabbed as the Heartland Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his week-two performance.

Dillon played a vital role in lifting the Yellow Jackets past Otterbein for a 16-14 road victory over the Cardinals. The Temperance, Mich., native hauled in three catches for 40 yards on the opening drive, before setting up DC’s lone touchdown with a 39-yard catch on the two-yard line on the Jackets’ second drive of the evening.

Dillon trumped the Otterbein secondary all night long, totaling three-or-more catches and at least 45 yards in all four quarters. The senior standout came up large in the fourth quarter as well, moving the chains and allowing DC to take precious minutes off the clock, with six receptions for 65 yards.

Dillon currently leads the Heartland Conference with 14 receptions and 183.5 receiving yards per game and ranks among the top five in the nation in those categories. The senior’s two-game totals also put him on track to threaten the Defiance College single-season records of 84 receptions (Mike Groll, 1999) and 1,209 receiving yards (Sam Williams, 1993). Dillon will enter play at Tri-State on Saturday having already amassed 28 catches for 367 yards and is on pace to finish the 10-game schedule with 140 catches and 1,835 receiving yards.

Dillon and the Jackets will look to continue their strong play when they play at Tri-State at 1:00 pm.