Spartans spoil DC Senior Day

DEFIANCE, Ohio—The Defiance College Yellow Jackets fell in their 2005 home finale to Manchester College on Saturday at Coressel Stadium, 29-32, on a 30-yard field goal by the Spartans’ Ryan McCool with two seconds remaining.

Defiance signal-caller Hans Vetter had 135 yards on 14-of-27 passing with one score through the air. He also ran for two scores and netted 19 yards on the ground. Luke Dillon caught seven Vetter passes for 37 yards, while Rodger Shingledecker had two grabs for 37 yards and a touchdown. Phillip Williamson ran for a career-high 65 yards on six carries and a touchdown. Gary Allen had 152 all-purpose yards on nine touches.

Steven Brancheau led the Jackets in tackles with 11 and had 1.5 tackles for loss. Chris Tietje had 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and totaled 10 stops. Kris Zajac also had double-digit tackles (10) and had a half tackle for loss.

The Spartan offense was led by quarterback Joe DeCraene who threw for 248 yards and three scores on 18-of-34 passing. Brandon Tugmon led all receivers with 100 yards on four catches and two scores.

Prior to the McCool winning score, Defiance cornerback Jason Bushong picked off a DeCraene pass near midfield, seemingly giving the Jackets the ball with five minutes remaining. A pass interference call on the Jackets took the play away and gave the Spartans the ball and an opportunity that they took advantage of.

Defiance had just come from 15 points back to tie the score at 29 with eight minutes left on a pair of fourth quarter Vetter touchdown runs and a two-point conversion from Vetter to Maurice Griffin. Manchester had previously taken the two-score lead on the strength of two Tugmon touchdown receptions and a McCool 20-yarder in the third stanza.

In the first half, William Cardwell and Justin Wolf gave the Spartans a surprising 13-0 lead midway through the first quarter before a Shingledecker juggling scoring catch and a Williamson 17-yard touchdown run gave Defiance their only lead of the game going into halftime.

Manchester held the ball for 10 more minutes that DC at 35:09 to 24:51 and outgained the hosts with 360 to 253 total offensive yards.

The Jackets fall to 5-4 on the season and 3-2 in the HCAC. The Spartans improve to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

The College of Mount St. Joseph wrapped up the Heartland Conference championship with a 17-7 win at Anderson.

The Jackets will try to win the ‘Hammer’ when they travel to Bluffton University on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kick off.