Slow First Half Does in Football Against Bulldogs in Opener

DEFIANCE, Ohio -- Defiance allowed 35 points in the first 29:05 of action on Saturday and fell by a 35-9 score to Adrian College at Coressel Stadium. Luke Dillon paced the offense with 11 catches for 109 yards and a score, while R.J. Chidester racked up nine stops, two pass breakups and one sack to lead the Yellow Jacket defense.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie through the majority of the opening quarter before Adrian found the end zone on three-straight possessions lasting under 40 seconds each to take command with a 20-0 lead.

The first strike came in the waning seconds of the first quarter as Mike McGee found Desmond Upshaw for a 55-yard score to complete a one-play drive. The Bulldogs followed that up with yet another single-play scoring drive on their first touch of the second quarter. The score was set up by a Criston Calley interception on Defiances own 40-yard line and Troy Niblock did the rest with a 40-yard sprint to pay dirt to push the spread to 13-0.

Keith Snyder temporarily stemmed the tied by blocking the AC point-after attempt, but Adrian got the ball back on another Calley pick and scored 36 seconds later to push the spread to 20-0 with just over nine minutes left in the first half.

Defiance answered on the ensuing possession, marching 82 yards behind strong drive from Hans Vetter. The junior quarterback found his range and connected on four-of-five attempts for 73 yards, including a 39-yard pass to Dillon for DCs lone offensive score of the afternoon.

Adrian pushed the halftime spread to 35-7 with a pair of touchdowns in the final 2:06 of the half.

Neither offense mustered much after the break, as the only score of the second half came at the 6:05 mark of the fourth quarter when Chidester wrapped up Niblock in the end zone to force an intentional grounding and the two-point safety which cut the deficit to 35-9.

That score would hold, as Defiance lost for just the sixth time in its last 19 contests and falls to 0-1 this season.

Dillon accounted for 11 of the 18 receptions for DC, while freshman Lionel Jones had a trio of catches for 27 yards.

Hans Vetter went 16 for 37 for 127 yards and a touchdown, but was haunted by three interceptions with two leading directly to Adrian scores. Vetter was more effective on the ground, leading the Jackets rushing game with 85 yards on 16 carries.

Chidester paced the defense with his nine tackles and added three hits for lost yardage, two pass breakups and one sack. Keith Snyder, Chris Tietje, Eddie Mason and Jeremy Bayer also picked up tackles for lost yardage and Joemese Scott was credited with a forced fumble.

Adrians Niblock ran for 100 yards and two scores to lead the Bulldog offense, while Kyle Dunaj had seven solo hits and a game high of 11 total tackles.

Defiance (0-1) will play a pair of non-conference games on the road over the next two weeks. The Jackets will start with a road game against Otterbein on Sept. 8 at 7:00 pm.