Chargerblue.com has you covered this holiday season

Give the Hillsdale alum, fan, or student the Charger Blues this Christmas.

If there is a style for an item you don't see listed, email me and I will add that for you. Have a design idea you would like added? Email those as well. 

Little School. Big Stage. Hillsdale's Holmes and Veldheer shine for Raiders on Thanksgiving.

Jared Veldheer (68) and Andre Holmes (18) had big days for Oakland. Twitter Photo from @joshuabakker

They played college football at a school with 1300 students. The biggest home crowd they ever entertained was just over 3000 strong but Hillsdale College grads Jared Veldheer and Andre Holmes were big stars on the NFL Thanksgiving stage this afternoon.

Veldheer made his first start of the season at left tackle after triceps surgery and drew Pro Bowler DeMarcus Ware. Being fresh in Week 13 surely aided Veldheer but he looked to be in his own Pro Bowl form holding Ware to 1 solo and 2 assisted tackles on the day.

After a 4th quarter 35 yard reception that put Holmes over 100 yards for the day, CBS commentator remarked, "Andre Holmes has definitely seen his NFL career arrive today." Studio host Bill Cowher gave Holmes and Hillsdale a nice shout out in his halftime remarks as well. Holmes would finish the day with 7 catches for 135 yards. Coming into the game, he had made 3 catches all season.

Hillsdale wasn't the only GLIAC represented by prime time players today. Grand Valley product Brandon Carr made a key interception for the Cowboys late in the game and Jeff Heath of Saginaw Valley recovered Oakland's desperation onside kick during the game's last minute.

First In: Quarterback Brendan Rohlfs commits to Hillsdale

MIPrepZone.com

2014 Chippewa Valley (MI) quarterback Brendan Rohlfs announced last Friday via the Big Reds Football Twitter account that he has committed to play next Fall at Hillsdale College.

The 6'0" 200 pound, 3 year starter holds the school's 2nd best career passing total with 3318 yards. He also holds the school record for most TD passes in a career with 30.

Here is Rohlfs' profile at The D Zone. According to it, it looks like Coach Otterbein and Hillsdale beat out a number of Ivy League schools vying for the 3.9 GPA student-athlete's services.

Chippewa Valley's head coach Scott Merchant had this to say about his quarterback in a preview article published at MIPrepZone.com prior to this season.

"He's a good athlete," Merchant said of Rohlfs, who last season threw for 1,400 yards with 11 touchdown passes against just one interception. "He's very smart and he's got a great arm, great mechanics, and he can run too.

"I don't have any qualms about Brendan Rohlfs as our quarterback," Merchant said. "He's going to lead our team and lead our offense. He knows our offense, he's going to get people lined up right; he's going to check to the right plays.

"Any time you can have a three-year starter at that position it kind of makes everything a little bit easier. All those leadership qualities and the intangibles are huge."

Andre Holmes gets start with Raiders against Titans

With Denarius Moore ruled out for Sunday's Oakland Raiders vs. Tennessee Titans game, Hillsdale product Andre Holmes will get his first NFL start at receiver for the Raiders.

Holmes had his first catch of the year last week against the Houston Texans. Jared Veldheer returns to the lineup for the first time next week on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys.

Chargers hand out team hardware

The Sunday after the final regular season game has been home to the Charger Football banquet for at least the last four decades. That tradition continued this past Sunday as the team gathered one last time and handed out its year end awards.

Roy Beck MVP: Brett Pasche, Sr. LB
Outstanding Offensive Back: Sam Landry, Sr. QB
Outstanding Offensive Lineman: Pat Ryan, Sr.
Outstanding Defensive Lineman: Nathan Bundy, Sr.
Outstanding Defensive Back: Tim Moinet, Jr.
Outstanding Linebacker: Brett Pasche

Captains Award: Brett Pasche, Sam Landry
Howard Champ Messenger Award: Steve Embry, Sr. LB
Leonard Urbanick Award for Scholarship, Leadership, and Ability: Steve Embry
One Play Warrior Award: Todd Frickey, So. DB/Return Specialist
Every Player Every Play Award: Steve Harding, Sr. DB

and this just about says it all...

If the typical picture is worth a 1000 words, I am going to venture to say this one is worth a little more. Thanks to Aimee England for sharing this great shot and bunch of other ones from the second half of the Chargers' win on Saturday. Check out Aimee's work on her Facebook gallery. 

Senior quarterback Sam Landry shares a moment with the Charger mascot after finishing his Hillsdale College career with a 27-7 win over Northwood University.

Pasche leads GLIAC in tackles per game, Swaffer 2nd in sacks

Hillsdale SR. Brett Pasche led GLIAC with 11 tackles per game

Brett Pasche closed out a stellar career playing linebacker at Hillsdale College by leading the GLIAC this season in tackles per game. His 11 edged Demarco Donaldson's 10.8 per game from Malone. Pasche's 121 total tackles also led the conference.

Pasche's overall body of work over the course of the last four years places him in the rarified air of the truly elite linebackers who have played for the Chargers. There was Rodney Patterson in the mid-eighties and then Jerry Klekotka of the early 1990's. Scott Duncan was a force in the late 90's before the great Tom Korte helped bring the Chargers to the brink of championship form and playoff appearances before finishing in 2008.

 Pasche had some pretty good linebackers on both side of him over the course of the past few season too. Devin Moynihan's 9.0 average this year was 9th best in the conference. Steven Embry had 6.7 tackles per game and his 4 interceptions placed him 5th in the league. Embry's 2 fumble recoveries also placed him 5th in the GLIAC.

 RS-Freshman Zach Swaffer made the most of his first season on the defensive line, recording 8 sacks, 2nd best in the league.

HillsdaleChargers.com: Senior Day Video

Nice video saluting the 2013 class of football seniors.

Put 4 1/2 inches and 120 pounds on Josh Duhamel and you get Jared Veldheer

After watching the Chargers win and then the greatest field goal ever made by a long-haired fat kicker in Evanston last night, Mrs. Chargerblue and I settled in to watch Safe Haven on Netflix.

Both of us commented that Josh Duhamel and Jared Veldheer bare a crazy resemblance. So...if you add about 4 1/2 inches and 120 pounds to Duhamel's 6' 3 1/2, 195 pound frame you would get pretty close to having Jared.

A Day of Domination: Some Numbers

Stats don't always tell the whole story but here are some numbers that show just how much Hillsdale owned Northwood in its season finale.

Hillsdale won 24-7 but came up empty four times in the redzone so with a little luck the Chargers could've made this a lot more lopsided point wise.

Time of Possession: Hillsdale 43:53 Northwood 16:07

First Downs: Hillsdale 33 Northwood 8
Third Down Conversions: Hillsdale 9/18 Northwood 2/12

Offensive Yards: Hillsdale 475 Northwood 181
Passing Yards: Hillsdale 239 Northwood 150
Rushing Yards: Hillsdale 236 Northwood 31

Yards per Rush: Hillsdale 3.6 Northwood 1.4

Hillsdale had four running backs in double figures for attempts and eight players caught passes.

HillsdaleChargers.com: Chargers Finish Strong

Official Hillsdale Release

Chargers Finish Strong

04:13 - 4	1	2	3	4	T
Northwood (Mich.) (2-8)	0	0	7	0	7
Hillsdale (4-6)	7	7	0	10	24
Hillsdale, Mich. | Muddy Waters Stadium

NORTHWOOD (MICH.)	HILLSDALE
Pa: Mitch Robinson - 150 Ru: Jordan Jonker - 12 Rec: Devonta Elzy - 87	Pa: Sam Landry - 228 Ru: Wade Wood - 70 Rec: Evan Sassack - 72

TEAM STATISTICS	NORTHWOOD (MICH.)	HILLSDALE
Passing Yards	150	239
Rushing Yards	31	236
Turnovers	2	2
Time of Poss.	16:07	39:40

full stats

Box Score

The final memory of the 21 seniors on the Hillsdale College football team will go down as one they will cherish.

The Chargers concluded the 2013 season with a 24-7 win over Northwood University on a gray Saturday afternoon at Frank "Muddy" Waters Stadium. Hillsdale finishes with a 5-6 record on the season, and 5-4 in the GLIAC. The Timberwolves conclude the season with an overall mark of 2-9.

The Chargers have now won 10 out of the 12 regular-season finales coached by Keith Otterbein including six in a row.

Hillsdale dominated most statistical categories, none more than time of possession. The Chargers held the ball for 43:53 out of 60 minutes of the game. The Chargers took the ball into Northwood's red zone seven times, and they held the ball for more than 10 minutes in three of the four quarters of the game.

The Chargers opened the scoring with a sharp 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterbackSam Landry to junior wide receiver Evan Sassackon the game's opening drive to give Hillsdale a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

Although Hillsdale's offense missed out on scoring in four of of its seven trips into the red zone, the defense more than made up for it by shutting down the Timberwolves' offense for most of the game. Northwood's lone scoring drive took up 19 yards, which came on the back of an 80-yard interception return.

For the game, Northwood ran 51 plays for 181 yards of total offense, compared to Hillsdale's 94 plays for 475 total yards. Hillsdale allowed Northwood just eight first downs in the game, while the Chargers generated seven first downs via penalty. Northwood was flagged for 10 penalties, totaling 105 yards in the game.

Senior linebacker Devin Moynihan had an interception and led the team with nine total tackles in the win for Hillsdale. His two longtime running mates at linebacker, Brett Pasche and Steven Embry, combined for eight more stops between them. 

Defensive lineman Zach Swaffer had a huge game for the Chargers with a team season-high three sacks among his four solo tackles. 

A highlight of the game came in the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Gabe Starkey completed two passes. A fourth-year junior who played his final game of his career, Starkey has long been admired by his teammates for his strong work ethic while rarely seeing game action. He barely missed a touchdown pass in a reverse play in the first half, but came in for the team's last drive, with one of his completions going to senior wide receiver Scott Lantis.

Redshirt-freshman tailback Jack Wiseman rumbled into the end zone with 2:28 to go in the second quarter to put the Chargers on top 14-0. Wiseman was one of several running backs to carry the load in the game for Hillsdale. Five players had 10 or more carries in the game out of the backfield, led by Wade Wood's 70 yards on 14 attempts. 

In his final game of his career, senior Isaac Spence hauled the rock 15 times for 60 yards and a touchdown. His fourth-quarter touchdown came on the heels of an interception by senior Matt Payne on the final play of the third quarter.

As a team, Hillsdale outgained Northwood by 205 yards in the game on the ground (236-31).

Sassack led the team's receivers with four catches for 72 yards. Sophomore John Haley caught four passes for 55 yards, while senior Andrew Mott caught four passes for 43 yards.

Throwback Thursday: Hillsdale's Aaron Petersen and Nate Shreffler

Both of these guys were teammates of mine. Dean Petersen was a year behind and Coach Shreffler was a year ahead.

Last night I was organizing some book shelves and found a game program from the 1992 season. I really don't think either look all that different. Both are great guys and I am proud to call each a friend.

Raiders LT Veldheer back on practice field | CSN Bay Area

Comcast Sports Net Bay Area correspondent Scott Bair reports that Hillsdale College product and Oakland Raiders tackle Jared Veldheer is back on the practice field. This is Veldheer's first action of the season since having triceps surgery in August.

Although Veldheer is practicing, his official return to the lineup is looking like the Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas against the Cowboys.

Raiders LT Veldheer back on practice field | CSN Bay Area:

'via Blog this'

Big play...on the big stage for Andre Holmes

Former Hillsdale WR Andre Holmes had to wonder if he was ever going to see the field again in the National Football League. He started the season suspended for four games with the Raiders due to a positive test for amphetamines and promptly injured his hamstring on his return to the Silver and Black.

Finally healthy and finally active, Holmes wasted little time making an impact. As a member of the Raider kickoff team, Holmes recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and advanced it all of the way to the Giant 5 yard line, setting up Oakland's first score of the day.

Raiders.com - Andre Holmes advances a fumble recovery on the opening kickoff of Sunday's game with the Giants.

Collegian: The man behind Charger Blue

Big thanks to Walker Mulley and the Collegian for this piece on Chargerblue.com.


The man behind Charger Blue:

'via Blog this'

Charger Comment - Week 10

Watch Charger Comment. 

Ferris State coach Tony Annese suspended over locker room incident | MLive.com

Ferris State coach Tony Annese suspended over locker room incident | MLive.com:

'via Blog this'

Grand Valley State pulls away thanks to defense's strong second half | MLive.com

Hillsdale took a 21-14 lead into the locker room at halftime but ran out of fire power in the second half.

Grand Valley State pulls away thanks to defense's strong second half | MLive.com:

'via Blog this'

Beat Grand Valley!

Sony Xperia Tablet keeps 'Old Ball Coach' ahead of the game | Sony Education Ambassadors

I did this piece for Sony in the fall about my tech savvy and Hillsdale grad dad entering his 37th year of coaching.

Sony Xperia Tablet keeps 'Old Ball Coach' ahead of the game | Sony Education Ambassadors:

'via Blog this'

Longtime NFL pro Howard Mudd helps teach Mount Si football's offense lessons of the game - Snoqualmie Valley Record

Howard Mudd played for Hillsdale in the 1960's, was an all-pro guard, and made a number of stops around the NFL as an offensive line coach. He won a ring with Peyton Manning and  the Colts and has consulted Coach Otterbein's Hillsdale's staff as well. 

Longtime NFL pro Howard Mudd helps teach Mount Si football's offense lessons of the game - Snoqualmie Valley Record:

'via Blog this'

Forest Hills Northern’s Jared Veldheer getting closer to NFL return | MLive.com

Looks like Jared is on the mend and ready to rejoin the Raider lineup by mid-month. Let's hope he's back in time for the national TV Thanksgiving game in Dallas.

Forest Hills Northern’s Jared Veldheer getting closer to NFL return | MLive.com:

'via Blog this'