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Tri-State at Defiance Box Score
DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance closed out the game with 10 unanswered points to overcome a 10-7 second-half deficit against Tri-State on Saturday, coming away with a 17-10 victory inside of Coressel Stadium.
The Jackets held a 7-0 lead at the half, but TSU opened the second half with consecutive scoring drives to grab a 10-7 lead with 8:09 remaining in the third quarter. Defiance punched back with a touchdown reception from Luke Dillon to reclaim the 14-10 lead and Dan Brown booted an 18-yard field goal through the uprights with 4:35 left in the game to give DC its final cushion of 17-10.
For the game, the Purple and Gold racked up 201 yards on the ground and 353 total yards of offense en route to 21 first downs. Tri-State posted just 234 total yards of offense while managing only 10 first downs.
Jason Gendron led all rushers with a game-high 112 yards on 20 carries, including a 33-yard run. Scooter Curtis was held to just 10 yards, but rushed for a key touchdown and Hans Vetter added 68 rushing yards to go with 152 yards and one touchdown through the air.
Gary Allen led all receivers with 80 yards while Dillon had 72 yards on six catches, including a 28-yard touchdown reception.
The Yellow Jackets’ defensive unit turned in another strong performance on the heels of a shutout over Adrian, limiting a potent TSU passing attack to just 109 yards on 11 completions. Nearly half of those yards came on a 50-yard pass from running back Courtney Sanders off of a trick play.
Mike Haydon led the way on defense with nine total tackles and a sack. Chris Tietje racked up six solo hits and eight total and Keith Snyder posted eight total tackles including 1.5 for negative yardage. Stu Gliwa filled up the stat sheet with seven hits, two sacks and one forced fumble. Jason Bushong and Nic Cass each picked off a pair of TSU passes and Andrew Mickey added DC’s fourth sack of the afternoon.
Neither side could muster much offense in the first half as the teams played through nearly 20 minutes of scoreless action before a four-yard run from Curtis gave the Jackets the 7-0 lead.
That lead held for the remainder of the half, but the Thunder bounced back with a 22-yard field goal off the foot of Justin Hoover and a two-yard Luke Hickok touchdown run on the first two TSU possessions of the second half to surge to the 10-7 lead.
The teams then traded a pair of possessions before Defiance went ahead for good. Vetter nearly single-handedly fueled the scoring drive, rushing three times for 27 yards before scrambling out of the pocket and lofting a 28-yard pass to a leaping Dillon in the end zone for a 14-10 DC lead at the 1:10 mark of the third quarter.
The Jackets padded the lead later in the fourth as a field goal from Brown capped an eight-play, 4:33 minute drive that gave DC the 17-10 lead with just 4:35 to play.
Tri-State managed to put a scare in the home-town DC fans on its final possession, driving to the Defiance 15-yard line with less than one minute to play, but Gliwa stripped the ball from a scrambling Levi Knach and Steven Brancheau covered up the loose ball to end the threat and secure the Yellow Jacket victory.
Defiance (2-1) will have an off week before jumping into its HCAC schedule with a road contest at Manchester on Saturday, Sep. 30 at 1:30 pm.
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