Tiffin University will play their second home game of the season against Saint Anselm on Oct. 5.
Posted: Oct 01, 2019
Tiffin University's football team will take on Saint Anselm in a non-conference matchup at 1 pm Oct. 5 at Frost Kalnow Stadium.
Tiffin and Saint Anselm have never played each other in football. The Hawks are currently 0-4, while the Dragons are 3-1 this season.
SAINT ANSELM NOTES
- Saint Anselm is a member of the Northeast-10 conference, where they were picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in the presesason coaches' poll.
- Saint Anselm is off to a slow start in 2019, dropping their first four games by an average margin of 30.5 points.
- Their closest game of the season came last weekend at Pace, falling by three touchdowns in a 42-21 final.
- The Hawks scored first in the game on a Nicholas Fiorillo touchdown run and led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. However, Pace scored 35 unanswered points over the next two quarters, going up 35-7 with 15 minutes to play. Charles Elliott reeled in a touchdown pass and Eric Fairweather scored on a two-yard run to cut the deficit to 35-21, but Pace added another touchdown before the final whistle for the 21-point victory.
- Joe Adam, a Grand Valley State alum, is 4-30 in 4+ seasons at the helm of Saint Anselm, and 4-36 overall as a head coach.
SAINT ANSELM OFFENSE
- The Hawks' offense is operated mainly through the air, with 224 pass plays and 102 run plays so far in 2019. They average 282.2 pass yards per game and 58.8 rush yards per contest.
- Saint Anselm has a pair of quarterbacks that have seen significant playing time in 2019 in senior Eric Fairweather and junior Phillip Tran. Tran has the better numbers, going 79-140 (56.4%) for 767 yards and three touchdowns with seven interceptions. Fairweather has recorded a 50% (42-84) completion percentage, 364 yards, and two scores with four picks.
- Sophomore back Christian Matthews-Boyd gets the majority of the carries, running the ball 39 times for 133 yards and a touchdown.
- Senior wideout Nicholas Fiorillo is the team leader in both receptions (25) and receiving yards (256), registering 64.0 yards per game and 10.2 yards per catch.
- Franklin Holgate is also over 200 yards receiving on the season, as the junior has caught 22 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown.
SAINT ANSELM DEFENSE
- Saint Anselm's defense has struggled mightily this season, ranking 158th out of 166 teams with 48.3 points allowed per game.
- Linebacker CJ Miller has been a bright spot, though, as the senior has been all over the field with 37 total tackles (9.3 per game), three sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and two pass breakups.
- Junior safety Ryan Sullivan has matches Miller's tackle total with 37 thus far, and has added a sack, two tackles for loss, and four pass breakups.
- Linebacker Luke Hufnagle is third on the team with 18 tackles along with half a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss, while defensive end Max Tempchin has also picked up a sack.
- The Hawks have not recorded an interception on the year, and are last in Division II with a -16 turnover margin (-4 per game).
TIFFIN NOTES- Tiffin picked up a huge GMAC victory last weekend with a 41-31 defeat of Ohio Dominican. The game was a thrilling seesaw affair, with eight total lead changes and 1,030 total yards of offense recorded.
- The score was just 13-7 in favor of Tiffin at halftime, but both offenses came alive in the second-half, particularly Tiffin's fourth quarter in which the Dragons tallied 21 points.
- After Evan Ernst gave ODU a 31-27 lead on a six yard run with 5:20 left, Nick Watson marched the Dragons back down the field and scored a rushing touchdown of his own to put TU back on top with 2:22 remaining. Needing a defensive stop to preserve the lead, TU's Carrington Contee intercepted Ernst on ODU's first play of the ensuing drive for the game's first turnover. Moments later, Marcus Whitfield gathered in a pass from Watson and ran it in from 29 yards out to put the game away.
- JaQuan Hardy earned GMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors with his 220 yard rushing effort against the Panthers.
TIFFIN OFFENSE
- The Dragons enter Week Five leading the GMAC with 503.8 total yards of offense per game, a mark that is also ninth in all of Division II. TU is also second in the conference with 33.8 points per contest.
- Tiffin is among the national leaders in offensive first downs, ranking ninth in DII with 101 through four games.
- Nick Watson continues his stellar play under center, leading the GMAC in yards (1220, 305 per game) and touchdowns (9), and is the only quarterback in the conference with less than two interceptions thrown.
- Watson's name is stamped all over the national rankings as well, ranking fourth in passing yards and passing yards per game, seventh in points, 11th in completions per game, and 23rd in completion percentage.
- After his monster 220-yard outing against Ohio Dominican, JaQuan Hardy has taken over the conference lead with 526 yards (131.5 per game), four touchdowns, and 7.7 yards per carry. He is eighth in Division II in yards per game and ninth in yards per carry.
- Tiffin has a receiver among the national leaders as well in senior Stanley Jackson Jr., as the wideout is second in Division II in yards per game (151.5) and fourth in receptions per game (8.8), marks that both lead the conference by a considerable margin.
TIFFIN DEFENSE
- Tiffin's defense has been very strong as well, leading the conference in both points allowed per game (21.3) and total yards allowed per contest (329.8).
- The Dragons lead the nation in turnover margin at +2.75, ranking seventh with 12 turnovers gained and tied for first with just one turnover lost.
- A huge contributor to those marks is TU's secondary, as they are second nationally with nine interceptions through four games.
- Among those nine interceptions are Carrington Contee (tied for seventh in the nation with .8 per game - three total) along with two each from Kevin Hyde and Ross Moore.
- Defensive end Charlie Cleveland is second in the conference with 7.5 tackles for loss and tied for second with three sacks through four games. He is also third on TU with 25 tackles.
- Linebacker Jacob Mertus has taken over the team lead with 29 tackles, adding 1.5 tackles for loss.
- Tiffin has a number of playmakers on defense that flock to the ball, as six Dragons have between 22-29 tackles on the year.
