Saginaw Soars past Hillsdale 24-3

Andy Brown
Hillsdale Chargers Play-By-Play
Special to chargerblue.com


Saginaw Valley defeated Hillsdale 24-3 in Hillsdale Saturday night.

This actually was a competitive game---as long as Saginaw had the ball. The Hillsdale defense surrendered only 16 points to one of the most prolific offenses in the country. In fact, Saginaw managed only a field goal in the entire second half. The Hillsdale defense sacked Saginaw quarterback Chris Dougherty 8 times in the game, and did a respectable job of staying with Saginaw's talented receivers. At the end of the day, if your defense can hold Saginaw to 16 points, you have to think you've given your team a chance to win at home, right?


Well...not so much.

Hillsdale got nothing out of their offense in the first half, and were never able to establish the ground game. Hillsdale had 26 carries for 18 yards--adjusted, of course for the many loses taken by Hillsdale quarterbacks. Phil Martin finished with 48 yards on 10 carries. Hillsdale quarterbacks Aaron Scholl and Jesse Hoskins performed equally, each passing for 99 yards and each running for their life against Saginaw's athletic front seven.

Make no mistake--Saginaw's defense is awesome. They are big and fast and strong and well coached. However, after speaking with Coach Otterbein and Offensive Coordinator Barry Fagan before the game, I was hopeful. Coach Fagan told me he honestly thought they needed 28 points to win the game, and he was sure they could do it. Coach Otterbein told me that he liked their scheme, but it came down to whether or not Hillsdale could get everybody blocked. Unfortunately, the answer was no. Hillsdale did find a spot between the linebackers and safeties where their receivers could get open. The Chargers went there frequently and with good success. Aaron Scholl's accuracy was actually pretty good in the first half, but his receivers dropped some easy passes that would have been first downs. I guess the bottom line was that Hillsdale did not make any big plays, could not run the ball, and simply didn't, as coach Otterbein feared, get everybody blocked.

I spoke with Hillsdale College Admissions Director Jeff Lantis Sunday morning, and he told me that Aaron Scholl is finished for the season with a broken fibula. Unbelievably, Scholl's season ends for the second straight year during a game against Saginaw. It will be interesting to see who takes over for Scholl. Will the Chargers stick with Hoskins, or go with Mark Nicolet. Nicolet had some success in the second half of last season, and felt he had a chance to win the starting position before this season began. Hillsdale wants to red shirt him this year, but who knows if Scholl's injury will change the situation.

Bright Side: Eric Weber--Three Sacks!, Andrew Daugherty--The Hudson grad looks great!

Needs Some Work: Getting the other team's guys blocked, Taking advantage of a solid defensive effort.

Bob and I will be in Midland next Saturday for the Northwood game. We should be on the air by 11:45. Last week management decided to save a few hundred dollars of gas money and not send us to Erie.