Football gives seniors final home win
Chargers head to final game of the year against Tiffin; hope for a 6-4 season
Liz Klimas
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: Sports
Charger football spends their last game of the season away in Ohio against Tiffin University. Hillsdale provided their seniors with a win in their last home game by a 20-point margin against Ferris State University, 34-14.
New to the GLIAC this year - though the Chargers have played them in non-conference play in the past while they were apart of the Great Lakes Valley Conference - Tiffin is 1-8 in conference play and 1-9 overall.
"What they've done is stepped up a notch in terms of week in and week out football play," Head coach Keith Otterbein said. "Having to play at this conference has proven difficult. We knew that, we play it too."
Though Tiffin is ranked last in the GLIAC, Otterbein said their performance against Michigan Technological University last week was solid, even though they didn't pull out a win.
Otterbein said his good friend, a coach for Tech, said he felt Tiffin played well enough to win.
"Tiffin invested a ton and laid it on the line at Tech and came up short," Otterbein said.
Otterbein's message to the team two weeks ago before playing Ferris was simple: passion.
"I wanted anyone who was at that game to understand the love and respect the team had for its seniors," Otterbein said. "When they push it a notch up, when there is passion, it really shines through. We were in the zone, we clicked."
Otterbein said he felt the last time the team was in a similar state of mind on Saturday was in 2007 against Ashland University.
"If it were easy to find, everyone would do it," he said. "It's hard to capture that balance of emotion, focus and effort."
Senior and co-captain Aaron Waldie made his 25th career touchdown catch late in the third quarter - the last points put on the board by either team.
Immediately after a short touchdown celebration, Waldie walked to the home-side fans, seeking out someone with his eyes. Contact. He tossed to his father the ball with which he broke the school's all-time record for career total touchdown catches.
New to the GLIAC this year - though the Chargers have played them in non-conference play in the past while they were apart of the Great Lakes Valley Conference - Tiffin is 1-8 in conference play and 1-9 overall.
"What they've done is stepped up a notch in terms of week in and week out football play," Head coach Keith Otterbein said. "Having to play at this conference has proven difficult. We knew that, we play it too."
Though Tiffin is ranked last in the GLIAC, Otterbein said their performance against Michigan Technological University last week was solid, even though they didn't pull out a win.
Otterbein said his good friend, a coach for Tech, said he felt Tiffin played well enough to win.
"Tiffin invested a ton and laid it on the line at Tech and came up short," Otterbein said.
Otterbein's message to the team two weeks ago before playing Ferris was simple: passion.
"I wanted anyone who was at that game to understand the love and respect the team had for its seniors," Otterbein said. "When they push it a notch up, when there is passion, it really shines through. We were in the zone, we clicked."
Otterbein said he felt the last time the team was in a similar state of mind on Saturday was in 2007 against Ashland University.
"If it were easy to find, everyone would do it," he said. "It's hard to capture that balance of emotion, focus and effort."
Senior and co-captain Aaron Waldie made his 25th career touchdown catch late in the third quarter - the last points put on the board by either team.
Immediately after a short touchdown celebration, Waldie walked to the home-side fans, seeking out someone with his eyes. Contact. He tossed to his father the ball with which he broke the school's all-time record for career total touchdown catches.
Be the first to comment on this story