|
Mount St. Joseph at Defiance Box Score
DEFIANCE, Ohio – Chris Tietje led an inspired Yellow Jacket defensive unit on Saturday with a game-high 14 tackles but the Defiance offense failed to get on track as the 16th-ranked Mount St. Joseph squad ended DC’s HCAC Championship hopes with a 20-6 victory inside Coressel Stadium.
Each team’s defense entered Saturday’s clash ranked in the top 20 in the nation in every major statistic, but DC’s shined brightest, holding Mount St. Joseph to just 104 total yards of offense. The Purple and Gold did not allow a complete pass all game and limited the Lions to just 1.8 yards per play.
Tietje was all over the field, spearheading the Jacket attack with 14 tackles, including 11 solo hits, 6.5 for negative yards and a 12-yard sack. Tyler Haines also cracked double figures with 10 tackles and had 3.5 hits for negative 13 yards. Ruben Echezabal stepped up from his linebacker position for nine tackles, Steven Brancheau had eight hits and Richard Palmer picked up DC’s second sack of the contest.
For the day, Tietje, Haines, Echezabal and Brancheau led an explosive performance from the Defiance linebacker corps, combining for 42 tackles, 12.0 tackles for lost yardage and a sack.
Despite the strong effort from the Defiance defense, the difference in the game was the struggle to protect the football on the offensive side of the ball. The Jackets racked up 206 total yards against one of the top-rated defensive units in the nation but were done in by seven total turnovers. The Jackets fumbled twice inside their own 20 to set up a pair of MSJ scores and coughed up the ball two more times inside the red zone to end a pair of promising drives. DC also threw the game’s only interception and saw two drives ended with failed fourth-down attempts.
For the day, Defiance saw seven of its 13 drives end via a turnover with five of the other six possessions ending in a punt. The lone scoring drive of the game came early in the second quarter as Hans Vetter found Tobias Tuomi in the end zone for an 11-yard score that brought DC within seven points at 13-6 at the 11:24 mark of the second quarter.
The Mount jumped to a 13-0 lead with a pair of 19-yard drives set up by DC fumbles. Rashon Lewis broke the scoreless tie with a seven-yard scamper with 2:53 left in the first quarter and Mike Lovell pushed the spread to 13-0 with a two-yard run with 14:54 to play in the half.
The Jackets trimmed the margin to seven just over three minutes later with the Tuomi reception but could get no closer as neither team would score for the next 28-plus minutes until Lovell scored from six yards out to push the score to its final mark of 20-6 in favor of the Lions.
Scooter Curtis topped the century mark for the second time in DC’s last three contests by rushing for 114 yards on 22 carries to spark the Jackets’ offense.
Joey Higgins completed 10-of-16 passes for 60 yards and Vetter was five-of-14 for 53 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Gary Allen led all receivers with five catches and 65 yards and Tuomi had two catches for 14 yards and DC’s lone touchdown reception.
Mike Lovell was the offense for MSJ, running for 106 yards on 32 carries. The rest of the Lion’s offense accounted for negative two yards over 25 plays.
The loss snapped DC’s six-game win streak and was the first time that an opponent had scored more than one offensive touchdown against the Jackets since their season-opening loss against Otterbein.
The Yellow Jackets (6-2, 4-1 HCAC) will play their final home contest of the season on Nov. 4 when they host Franklin College at 1:00 pm.
|
