In an injury riddled first half of their football season, Tiffin University's 2016 team found it hard to play to their potential.
But Saturday the team did just that, playing strong on both sides of the ball and making big plays when needed in posting the biggest upset in school history. The Dragons shocked the nationally ranked Ashland Eagles 35-32.
It was the first win over Ashland (ranked 4th in the nation on D2Football.com, 5th in AFCA) in school history, and the Dragons did it in convincing fashion, never trailing and holding off numerous Eagles charges throughout the second half before clinching the victory.
Things looked like they would not go the Dragons way on Ashland's first possession. A big 68 yard pass play by the Eagles brought them to the Tiffin 5 yard line. But Tiffin's defense sent an early message, holding them out of the end zone on four tries including a huge fourth-and-goal from the 1 yard line to force a change of possession.
Then the Dragons offense took over.
Just three plays into their drive, Antonio Pipkin hit Charles Holland on a massive 86 yard touchdown strike to put the Dragons on the board at the 10:12 mark. After a missed PAT, TU led 6-0.
The Dragons continued to put together sustained drives, putting together a 10 play, 80 yard drive on their next possession and capping it off with a 1 yard run by JaQuan Hardy. A Pipkin to Clarence Turner 2 point conversion gave TU a 14-0 lead.
Ashland got on the board with the first play of the second quarter on a 30 yard pass play, and followed that up at the 8:16 mark of the second quarter with a 31 yard field goal to make the score 14-10, Tiffin.
But Holland was far from done, sending TU to the halftime locker room on a roll after hauling in a 21 yard TD pass from Pipkin with 5:23 left in the half to make the score 21-10 at the break.
Ashland inched closer again with the lone score of the third quarter, as they finished a 77 yard drive with a 1 yard TD run at the 4:25 mark to make the score 21-17.
TU kept the pressure on the Eagles, mounting another long drive (this time 80 yards) before Trent Stamm caught a 10 yard TD pass from a scrambling Pipkin to put TU up 28-17 with 12;23 to play.
Another AU passing TD covering 18 yards brought them to within three points at 28-25 with 9:10 to play. The Dragons defense needed a big stop, and Morgan Loyd provided it with an interception on the Ashland 38 yard line, the only turnover on the day for the Eagles.
TU capitalized moments later, picking up two first downs and then scoring on a 7 yard run by Pipkin that made the score 35-25 with 1:01 left. The Eagles quickly scored on a 23 yard pass play with 39 seconds remaining but TU's Clarence Turner recovered Ashland's on-side kick attempt to finish off the Eagles.
Holland had a monstrous game, hauling in 11 passes sfor 262 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 262 yards are the second highest single game total in school history.
Pipkin finished 16 of 24 for 308 yards and 3 TDs with only 1 sack and 1 interception, while also posting 51 rushing yards. Jerry Brown also had 52 yards rushing.
Owen Courtright had a superb game on special teams, averaging 50.8 yards per punt on 4 kicks, placing 2 inside the 20 as the Dragons punt coverage team held Ashland to -3 yards in returns.
Statistically the two teams both put up strong numbers. AU outgained TU 508-448, including 402-308 through the air. TU's defense held Ashland to just 106 yards rushing.
Jacob Mertus had another strong game, posting a team best 14 tackles, while DJ Steward, Stefan Willis, Vinny Jones, and Willie Mays all had 6 tackles each.