FB Preview: Jackets travel to winless Anderson on Saturday
October 20, 2023

FB Preview: Jackets travel to winless Anderson on Saturday

WATCH LIVE ON THE YELLOW JACKET SPORTS NETWORK: Click here
LIVE STATS: Click here
GAME NOTES: Click here
 
SATURDAY'S GAME: Defiance College travels to Anderson University to play the Ravens after suffering back-to-back losses at home to Mount St. Joseph and Franklin. Today's contest marks the first of two road games in a row to close out the Yellow Jackets' road slate.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Yellow Jackets lost to Franklin, 35-21, on a rainy afternoon at Justin F. Coressel Stadium. With the passing game neutralized by the elements, Franklin's Garrett Cora and Defiance's Tyshaun Freeman knifed through defenders all day and accounted for 318 yards and 235 yards on the ground respectively. Freeman scored all three DC touchdowns while Cora scored four times, including a 35-yard scamper with 3:24 left in the game to lift Franklin by 14 points shortly after Defiance trimmed the Grizzlies' lead down to one score.
 
ABOUT THE YELLOW JACKETS: Defiance College continues to build upon a strong finish to the 2022 season that ended with a 3-7 record and are 5-5 over the last 10 games. Under second-year head coach Bill Nickell, Defiance snapped a 14-game non-conference losing streak and 17-game non-conference road game schedule with a Week 2 win at Adrian. Additionally, the Jackets' conference-opening win over then 3-0 Hanover was DC's first takedown of an undefeated team with multiple wins since beating 3-0 Rockford in 2001, which was also the first time Defiance started HCAC play 1-0 since 2010. Defiance is the third-best rushing team in the HCAC by averaging 205.8 yards per game and also ranks third in total defense with 393.5 yards per game allowed.
 
ABOUT THE RAVENS: Anderson is enduring another season hunting for wins. After back-to-back 1-9 seasons, the Ravens are off to an 0-6 start under head coach Jonathan Coddington after a 77-14 thumping at Mount St. Joseph. Anderson has allowed 60 or more points in every game so far this season with the exception being their last home game two weeks ago, a 36-28 loss against Franklin. Anderson ranks seventh in the HCAC in scoring offense (13.0 ppg) and last in scoring offense (61.0 ppg) while surrendering a league-high 506.2 yards per contest. On the offensive side of the ball, the Ravens rank seventh in the HCAC with much of their production coming through the air and average 193.8 pass yards per game versus 67.8 on the ground.
 
THE SERIES: Saturday's game is the 63rd meeting between the two programs and ties Defiance's meetings with Adrian as the second-most common opponent of the DC football schedule (Bluffton, 98 previous matchups). The two programs have met every season since Defiance joined the HCAC in 2000 and the Jackets are 16-7 against the Ravens over that period. The current 24-year run in the series is the second-longest continuous stretch in its history and narrowly trails a 26-year period that the two schools played from 1966-1991. Prior to that, a nine-year stint from 1952-64 kicked off the rivalry. Defiance owns the upper hand in the series with 39 victories to 22 defeats, plus one tie in 1984, which was a 21-21 contest played at Defiance. The home team has won each of the last four meetings.
 
ELITE COMPANY: Seniors Tyshaun Freeman and Thomas Coltrain surpassed major career milestones in last week's slugfest against Franklin. Freeman's big day running the football took the Georgia native over 2,000 yards for his career to become the eighth player to reach that mark at DC. Now with 2,225 rushing yards, Freeman ranks fifth on the all-time rushing list and tied for seventh with 17 rushing touchdowns. On the defensive side for Coltrain, the linebacker became the seventh player in program history to reach 300 tackles and is now three solo tackles shy of being just the second with 200 solo stops.
 
TYSHAUN KEEPS TRUCKIN': Senior running back Tyshaun Freeman had a career day last week against Franklin when he racked up 235 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. Entering the game just 10 yards shy of 2,000 for his career, he passed that milestone with his first carry of the game and on to have five total rushes of 10 yards or more highlighted by carries of 48, 50, and 55 yards. Freeman now owns nine 100-yard games and four multi-touchdown games in four seasons at DC and is averaging 116.8 yards per game in his last five contests. He is also second in the HCAC with 598 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
 
ALL ABOARD THE COLTRAIN: Senior linebacker Thomas Coltrain continues to climb the career tackles list at Defiance and is on the cusp of breaking a career record for solo tackles. A three-time First Team All-HCAC selection, Coltrain enters this week's game eight solo tackles shy of passing Donny Mutters' career record of 204 solo stops. Mutters also owns the total tackles mark with 372 from 1988-91, a target that the Leslie, Mich. native trails by 67 after a season-high 11 tackles last week.
 
ADJUSTMENTS FOR JORDAN: Senior quarterback Jordan Ambrose looks to get back on track after consecutive games with two interceptions and a total of 40 yards passing. The Texan is just three games removed from a career-high 369 yards passing and program-record 33 completions at Kalamazoo. He remains a tough player to defend due his running abilities and is one DC's finest dual-threat quarterbacks. He set a career-high 144 rushing yards in Week 2 at Adrian followed by a 120-yard performance the next week to become the first DC quarterback with consecutive 100-yard rushing games since Ricky Powell in 2010. He is also the first DC QB with multiple 100-yard rushing games in the same season since Sean Washington in 2013. Entering Week 7 with 294 rushing yards, Ambrose is within reach of the first DC quarterback to have a 500-yard rushing season since Powell's 565 in 2011.
 
WINNING MATH: Defiance's two victories have boiled down to winning a some crucial battles within the game aside from taking care of that business on the road. DC's two wins have been their only games so far that the defense has won the turnover battle while holding their opponent under 30 points. Each win was also DC's only games entering the fourth quarter leading or tied. The Jackets will also look to get out of the gates faster after being outscored 128-47 in the first half this season.
Game Notes Photos Recap Box Score

Team Stats