Chargers drop season finale against ODU

By Christian Peck-Dimit

Associate Editor

The Hillsdale Chargers football team was unable to complete its late comeback bid, dropping the final game of its season against the Ohio Dominican University Panthers, 20-10, on Saturday.

ODU scored all 20 of its points in the final quarter and a half, leaving the Chargers 5-6 overall, with a 4-4 record in G-MAC play.

“We did a lot of good things on Saturday, missed a couple early opportunities,” head coach Keith Otterbein said. “Turnovers and finishing drives were frustrating on that side. Played really hard on defense, tackled well until the last half of the fourth quarter, then didn’t tackle well.”

The Chargers’ offense made it into opposing territory six times throughout the game, though they were only able to finish two of their drives with points. One of those two drives was finished by a 34-yard field goal from junior kicker Julian Lee that gave the Chargers the first points of the game, sending the squad to halftime up 3-0.

On the Panthers’ second and third drives of the second half, however, they scored a pair of touchdowns to take a 13-3 lead. Hillsdale responded, going 87 yards in 11 plays to cut its deficit down to three points with a twoyard touchdown run from senior running back Michael Herzog with just under eight minutes remaining. Herzog finished the season with 940 rushing yards, second most in the G-MAC. “Once we went down the field and scored and made it 13-10, that was one of those times where we needed a key stop and didn’t get it because we didn’t tackle real well on that particular drive,” Otterbein said.

The Panthers’ offense went 71 yards and burned more than four minutes off the clock before scoring a game-sealing touchdown with 3:36 remaining, handing the Chargers a loss in their final game of the season.

“I’m so proud of the effort that our guys put forth,” fifthyear linebacker Kyle Kudla said. “It was a battle, we knew it was gonna be a battle, it’s always a close game with those guys, it’s always a fun one to be a part of.”

The loss gave the program its first losing season since 2015, when the team also went 5-6.

“We have to find a way this winter and spring and summer, and fall camp, to make the key plays when the key plays need to be made,” Otterbein said. “To make the key drive or the key thirddown stop, or take advantage of a turnover. I don’t know how, mentally, we’re going to approach that, but that’s really what needs to be done.”

For the team’s 12 graduating seniors, the game marked the final time they will play in a Charger uniform.

“Hillsdale is such a special place and you get to be a part of that,” Kudla said. “What we have is so different compared to everyone else in the country, it is so special. I think this year we laid a groundwork of guys that are invested in not only their individual performances, but guys invested in each other.”

Kudla led the team defensively with 11 tackles, including a tackle for loss, as well as a pair of quarterback hurries.

“There’s a really good Vince Lombardi quote about how a man’s finest hour is when he can lie exhausted on the field of battle, and I definitely think I walked off the field with my head held high,” Kudla said. “It was a great way to go out, it’s always been a really fun game in my career playing against ODU, those have been some of my better performances.”

On the day after the game, the team held its end-of-season banquet. Nearly a dozen season-long awards were given out, headlined by sophomore wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa taking home the Roy Beck Most Valuable Player Award.

TeSlaa finished the season third in the nation among D2 players with 1325 receiving yards, which was also the third most single-season yards in program history. He also caught 13 touchdowns over the course of the season, tying him for sixth in the nation.

The banquet was also headlined by speeches given by each of the graduating seniors.

“The most impactful thing for me was listening to the speeches from the seniors, especially my closest friends,” Herzog said. “It was kind of a reality check that they’re not going to be here next semester and I’m not going to be working with them sideby-side like I had been for the past three years.”