Football picks up 22-16 HCAC victory over rival Manchester

DEFIANCE, Ohio – At home on Saturday afternoon against the Manchester University Spartans, a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival, the Defiance College football team overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to pick up a 22-16 victory at Justin F. Coressel Stadium.

"We improved as the game went on and we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot early," Defiance head coach Manny Matsakis said. "I thought our defense did a very good job getting some turnovers and making the kind of plays they're very capable of making. I thought both sides of the ball did a fantastic job just working as a unit against a team we haven't beaten since 2016."

After Manchester drove 64 yards in 15 plays on the game's opening possession to take an early 7-0 lead, the Yellow Jackets answered when Machari Bighams scored a touchdown on a 47-yard run. The point-after was blocked, however, and the Spartans took it all the way back the other way to increase their advantage to 9-7 with 4:07 to go in the first period.

The final play of the first quarter was an interception and 21-yard return by DC's Steven Lucas but four punts followed, two by each team, as the second period went scoreless.

MU's first drive of the second half also resulted in a Defiance interception as Malique Lawson picked off a pass in the end zone.

Like the second quarter, there was no scoring in the third but that changed in the final period.

Just seven seconds into in the fourth quarter, DC quarterback Daylon Lange scored on a 5-yard run and then threw to Terry Geiger for a two-point conversion, putting the Yellow Jackets up, 14-9.

On the ensuing possession, Manchester moved from its own 40-yard line to Defiance's 29, but again Lawson came up with an end-zone interception to halt the Spartans' drive.

From there, the hosts went 80 yards in only six snaps for a score. Freshman Tyshaun Freeman rambled 35 yards into the end zone, Lange hit Bighams for a two-point conversion and DC had a 22-9 lead with 8:15 remaining.

MU cut its deficit to 22-16 with a touchdown and extra point at the 1:17 mark and then attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by the Yellow Jackets to preserve their win.

Manchester finished with five turnovers while Defiance had none. The guests edged DC in total yards, 311-308, but ran 12 more offensive plays. On the ground, the Yellow Jackets gained 213 yards and averaged 4.5 per rush, compared to 39 and 1.6, respectively, for the Spartans.

Freeman led the Defiance offense by rushing 26 times for 151 yards. Geiger ended with four receptions for 74 yards.

On defense for DC, Thomas Coltrain registered a game-best 16 total tackles, including nine solos, plus added a forced fumble and 3.5 tackles for loss. Justin Caballero produced nine total tackles with 1.5 for loss while freshman Richard Pope IV recorded two sacks. Brian Murat and freshman Reggie Pace each recovered a fumble while V'Sean Palmer forced one.

The Jackets move to 1-2 overall and in the HCAC while MU falls to 0-5, including 0-3 in conference play. Defiance is scheduled to be in Cincinnati to take on Mount St. Joseph University in an HCAC contest next Saturday at 3 p.m.