GAMEDAY CENTRAL - Defiance vs. Mt. St. Joseph - Game Nine

DEFIANCE, Ohio - Defiance will honor its nine-man senior class prior to the start of Saturday's 1:00 pm contest with Mount St. Joseph. The game will be DC's final home game of the 2008 campaign.

SCOUTING DEFIANCE - The Yellow Jackets have notched two-straight wins and have used a rediscovered ground game to turn the season around. DC struggled mightily through its first four games, rushing for only 276 total yards and one touchdown, while the offense limped to 9.5 points and 187.8 total yards per game. In the last four outings, Defiance has piled up 799 yards and five scores on the ground, including a 276-yard effort in a single game against Rose-Hulman. The improved rushing attack has paid dividends for the Purple and Gold, paving the way for 20.0 points and 343.3 total yards of offense per game over DC's last four.

SCOUTING MOUNT ST. JOSEPH - Much like the young Defiance squad, the Lions have battled through a rebuilding season. With three HCAC defeats, Mount St. Joseph has its highest conference loss total since going winless during the 2001 season. Despite the down year for the Mount, it still boasts one of the top defensive units in the league. MSJ has only allowed an opponent to score 20-or-more points twice this year and has held the opposition to a meager 7.8 points per game in its five victories.

LAST MEETING - Defiance and Mount St. Joseph squared off on Oct. 27, 2007 as two of three remaining unbeatens in league play. Defense dominated the action and neither side scored until late into the fourth quarter when MSJ finally broke through and pulled out the 10-0 win.

SERIES HISTORY - DC and Mount St. Joseph will meet for the 17th time when they take the gridiron on Saturday. The teams have split the previous 16 contests, but the Mount has a six-game win streak over the Jackets. DC's last win over MSJ came back in 2001, when Defiance posted a 36-13 win over the Lions and went on to win the HCAC Championship.

HCAC HONORS FOOS AND LONGSDORF - Defiance saw a pair of its players be recognized by the HCAC after helping to lead DC to an overtime victory against Hanover one week ago. Tom Foos hit a career-best 38-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Jackets to the 31-28 victory and also averaged 55.6 yards per kickoff, while sticking a pair of punts inside the 20 and claiming HCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Week honors. Kyle Longsdorf picked up a career-best eight solo tackles and ran back a 20-yard interception return in the fourth quarter to earn HCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week honors.

YELLOW JACKETS IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT - Defiance's Keith Snyder and Tom Foos are each in the midst of standout seasons and rank highly in the nation in their respective statistical categories. Snyder enters play on Saturday ranked fifth in the nation with 12.6 tackles per game, while Foos ranks 13th in the nation with a 40.9 net average per punt.

TAYLOR'S TALLY - DC Head Coach Rob Taylor has notched two victories in the past two weeks and now has 25 career win in his six seasons with the Purple and Gold. That win total moves Taylor into a tie for fifth place all-time at DC with Gary Shaefer, who patrolled the Yellow Jacket sidelines from 1979-1984. Taylor will finish the 2008 season as the third-longest tenured football coach in school history and currently stands just 11 wins shy of matching Malen Luke (1988-1993) as the winningest coach in school history.

WIN #350 - Defiance's, 31-28, overtime win at Hanover one week ago was the 350th win in the history of the Yellow Jacket football program. DC's previous landmark victories included the 300th win which came against Alma (29-24) in 1997, the 200th win which came against Bluffton (15-14) in 1974, the 100th win which came against Cedarville (20-0) in 1952 and the first win in the history of the program, a 32-0 defeat of Findlay in 1904.

AROUND THE HCAC - The No. 22 Franklin Grizzlies took control of the league standings last weekend with a resounding, 42-7, win over Rose-Hulman. Franklin now controls its own destiny and is hoping to win its second-straight HCAC title. The Grizzlies will travel to Manchester at 1:30 on Saturday, while Hanover plays at Bluffton and Rose-Hulman hosts Anderson. All league games are set for a 1:30 pm kick-off, except for DC hosting MSJ at 1:00 pm.

WHAT'S ON TAP - After wrapping up its home portion of the 2008 campaign this afternoon, Defiance will gear up for the season finale at Bluffton on November 15 at 1:00 pm. The game will be the 84th all-time meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Beavers on the gridiron.