Things couldn't have looked more grim for the Tiffin University Dragons football team.
With less than one quarter remaining in their GLIAC tussle with Michigan Tech, TU trailed 17-0. They had struggled in pass protection as quarterback Antonio Pipkin endured four sacks, had missed two field goal attempts, had one punt blocked leading to a MTU touchdown, and had another low snap on a punt attempt that ultimately led to another Huskies touchdown. Everything seemed to be going wrong.
Then it all suddenly started going right.
TU lit up the scoreboard in the final period for 24 unanswered points, stunning Michigan Tech with a 24-17 victory that marked one of the biggest comebacks in TU history. The Dragons improve to 5-2, 4-2 GLIAC.
It started quietly enough, with Owen Courtright booting a 27 yard field goal after a 6:00 drive stalled out at the MTU 11. That made the score 17-3, MTU.
The Dragons then held MTU to three-and-out, getting the ball back on their own 31 yard line. Pipkin then came to life, completing three straight passes covering 69 yards and culminating in a 16 yard TD toss to Jordan Nobles that suddenly had TU to within 17-10 with 5:54 to play.
The Huskies then drove down to TU's 44 yard line before stalling. On the subsequent punt attempt, the snap sailed over punter Ryan VanGoethem's hands, giving TU the ball on the MTU 33 yard line. Shortly thereafter, Pipkin scrambled 18 yards into the end zone to tie the score at 17-17 with 3:25 to play.
Once again the Huskies started mounting a drive. But quarterback Brandon Cowie's long pass downfield was intercepted by Stefan Willis, who then dashed around tacklers down the sideline 62 yards and into the end zone to give TU a shocking 24-17 lead with 1:43 left.
Michigan Tech was still not done. Starting at their own 50 yard line after a TU penalty and an ensuing kickoff that went out of bounds, MTU marched down to the Tiffin 15 yard line with 30 seconds left. But on 2nd and 10, Cowie passed into the back of the end zone where his pass was picked off by Carrington Contee to end the Huskies' final scoring opportunity.
Tiffin, battling injuries and some tough breaks on special teams, put together a strong defensive effort. MTU's only two touchdowns came off of two botched punt attempts where the Huskies had a very short field. Overall the Huskies were held to 80 yards rushing and 245 yards of offense while the Dragons picked off 3 passes and also had a sack and 8 tackles for loss.
Overall TU outgained MTU 306-245 including 150-80 on the ground. Pipkin, who was sacked 4 times, went 16 for 26 with no interceptions for 156 yards while also rushing for 88 yards. He passed and rushed for a TD. Jordan Nobles had 62 yards and Charles Holland had 44 yards receiving while JaQuan Hardy also had 41 yards rushing.
Stefan Willis had a standout game, posting 118 all-purpose yards (36 kick returns, 20 punt returns, 62 interception returns). DJ Steward led the team with 9 tackles and 2 tackles for loss, while Jacob Mertus had 8 stops. Jalen Randolph was strong inside with 6 tackles, while Morgan Loyd had 5 tackles with a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Contee had 2 interceptions along with 5 tackles.