Football falls to HCAC favorite Hanover in home opener

DEFIANCE, Ohio – In its spring 2021 home opener on Saturday afternoon, the Defiance College football team fell, 56-12, to the Hanover College Panthers in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at Justin F. Coressel Stadium. It was Defiance's first home contest since beating HCAC rival Bluffton University on Nov. 16, 2019.

The Yellow Jackets opened the game with the ball but turned it over on their first two possessions, once with a fumble and then on an interception. In between the turnovers, a quarterback sack on fourth down by DC's Thomas Coltrain prevented Hanover, the preseason HCAC favorite and two-time defending conference champion, from scoring.

The Panthers scored touchdowns at the 7:07 and 51-second marks of the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead and in the second period, they tallied two more scores on returns of a fumble and then an interception, upping their advantage to 28-0.

Defiance responded with a 70-yard drive that was capped off with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Daylon Lange to Machari Bighams, making it a 28-6 game, before the guests concluded the opening-half scoring by reaching the end zone with only 19 seconds left for a 35-6 halftime lead.

HC went up, 42-6, with 7:19 remaining in the third quarter before the Yellow Jackets drove 87 yards with freshman Tyshaun Freeman breaking loose on a 44-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 42-12 with 10:32 to go.

Hanover answered with two more touchdowns, the final one with 2:09 showing on the game clock.

Offensively, DC outgained the visitors, 368-318 yards, including 205-179 on the ground. Defiance averaged 4.8 yards per rush to the Panthers' 3.4, but the hosts struggled on third and fourth downs (2 of 17 and 4 of 13, respectively), and with penalties (eight for 84 yards).

Lange finished as the contest's leader in both passing and rushing yards. The sophomore quarterback completed 19-of-33 passes for 163 yards and ran 15 times for 88 more. Freeman rushed for 70 yards in 11 attempts while Bighams, Terry Geiger and Antony Amison all caught four passes.

Coltrain paced the Yellow Jackets' defense with 11 total tackles (six solos), including two for loss. Moody was credited with eight total tackles (five solos) while Steven Lucas forced a fumble and Derrell Walker recovered one.

DC slips to 0-2 overall, including 0-2 in the HCAC while Hanover is 1-0 and 1-0, respectively. Defiance is scheduled to be back at home to take on Manchester University in a conference game next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.